Community pharmacists' perceptions about pharmaceutical care of OTC western medicine: a survey in Harbin of China.
BACKGROUND
In China, increasingly OTC-western medicine is obtained at the community pharmacy. It is unknown which care the community pharmacists in China provides with such medicines.


OBJECTIVE
This study investigated community pharmacists' attitude, practice and perceived barriers about pharmaceutical care of over-the-counter western medicine. Moreover, community pharmacists' suggestions of improvement measures were also collected.


METHODS
Questionnaire survey targeting community pharmacist.


RESULTS
Respondents generally showed positive attitude towards pharmaceutical care. About 30 % of the respondents reported that they provided pharmaceutical care "whenever necessary", while about 40 % did it "as frequent as possible" or "to all consumers". Respondents considered "ambiguity of the professional role of pharmacists" (50.7 %), "Lack of scientific evidence of over-the-counter western medicine" (42.9), and "Lack of time" (40.0 %) as the main barriers. The 3 most important improvement measures suggested were "Formulating or refining legislation to clarify the legal professional role of pharmacists with respect to western medicine" (63.2 %), "Promoting public education of pharmacist role" (50.7 %), and "Formulating or refining the standards of pharmacists' practice with respect to western medicine" (50.7 %).


CONCLUSIONS
Community pharmacists in Harbin of China have a relatively positive attitude and intention to provide pharmaceutical care of OTC western medicine. However, lack of professional role definition, limited pharmaceutical knowledge and lack of human and financial resources limited the provision of pharmaceutical care by community pharmacists.
State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Room 2057, Building N22, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macau, China.
Menghuan
M
Song
State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Room 2057, Building N22, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macau, China.
Carolina Oi Lam
CO
Ung
State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Room 2057, Building N22, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macau, China. haohu@umac.mo.
Hao
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9441-106X
H
Hu
State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Room 2057, Building N22, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macau, China.
Yitao
Y
Wang
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002681:China; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007880:Legislation, Drug; D004366:Nonprescription Drugs; D010593:Pharmaceutical Services; D010594:Pharmacies; D010595:Pharmacists; D024382:Professional Role; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D004366:Nonprescription Drugs
China; Community pharmacist; Over-the-counter; Pharmaceutical care; Western medicine