title: A cross-sectional survey on the attitudes and interests of rural population towards expanded pharmacist prescribing in India.
abstract: Background Shortage of qualified medical doctors and little or no access to basic medicines and medical facilities are the major rural health concerns in India. Expanding the role of pharmacists to provide prescribing services could improve rural health outcomes. Objective To assess the attitudes of rural population towards pharmacist prescribing and their interest in using expanded pharmacist prescribing services. Setting Rural population of Assam, India. Methods A descriptive, cross-sectional survey was conducted for a period of 2 months from March to April 2016 in the State of Assam, India. A multi-stage sampling was used to recruit (n = 410) eligible participants. Main outcome measure Rural population attitudes towards, and interests in using, pharmacist prescribing services. Results The attitudes of participants were generally positive towards pharmacist prescribing. A large proportion of participants (81.5%) agreed that pharmacists should have a prescribing role in rural India. Participants indicated their interest in using expanded pharmacist prescribing services, with greater interests in receiving medications in emergency situations (79.7%) and getting a treatment plan for their medical problem (75.6%). Participants with low income and tertiary education had better attitudes and showed more interest towards expanded pharmacist prescribing services (p < 0.05). Conclusions Most participants had positive attitudes towards pharmacist prescribing and were interested in using expanded pharmacist prescribing services.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmacy, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia. umair104@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Muhammad Umair
authors.initials: MU
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UCSI University, 56000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arief
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UCSI University, 56000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Akram
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Swan Neelu Angel's Hospital, New Delhi, 110017, India.
authors.forename: Sadiqa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Malik
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Lab and Mocecular Diagnostic Technology, Mangaldai College, Mangaldai, Assam, 784125, India.
authors.forename: Lakhya Jyoti
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Gogoi
authors.affiliation: Institutional Level Biotech Hub, Dakshin Kamrup College, Mirza, Assam, 781125, India.
authors.forename: Manabendra
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kalita
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, University of Balochistan, Quetta, 87550, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Fahad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Saleem
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Social and Administrative Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Pinang, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Mohamed Azmi Ahmad
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Hassali
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D010595:Pharmacists; D024382:Professional Role; D012424:Rural Population; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Attitudes; India; Interests; Pharmacist; Prescribing; Rural area