PHARMACY STUDENTS' INVOLVEMENT IN PUBLIC HEALTH INTERVENTIONS: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY IN THREE NIGERIAN TERTIARY UNIVERSITIES (original) (raw)
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Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice, 2015
The Nigerian health sector battles with control of infectious diseases and emerging non-communicable diseases. Number of healthcare personnel involved in public health programs need to be boosted to contain the health challenges of the country. Therefore, it is important to assess whether community pharmacists in Nigeria could be engaged in the promotion and delivery of various public health interventions. This study aimed to assess level of knowledge, attitude and practice of public health by community pharmacists. The cross sectional survey was carried out in Enugu metropolis. Questionnaire items were developed from expert literature. Percentage satisfactory knowledge and practice were obtained by determining the percentage of community pharmacists that were able to list more than 2 activities or that stated the correct answer. Attitude score represents the average score on the 5 point Likert scale for each item. Chi square and Fisher's exact test were used to test for statistically significant difference in knowledge, attitude and practice of public health between different groups of community pharmacists. Forty pharmacists participated in the survey. About one third of the participants had satisfactory knowledge of public health. With the exception of one item in attitude assessment, average item score ranged from 'agreed' to 'strongly agreed'. Study participants scored below satisfactory on practice of public health. Knowledge, attitude and practice of public health were not influenced by years of practice, qualification and prior public health experience. Reported barriers to the practice of public health include inadequate funds, lack of time, lack of space, cooperation of clients, inadequate staff, government regulation, insufficient knowledge, and remuneration. Level of knowledge and practice of public health by community pharmacists were not satisfactory although they had a positive attitude towards practice of public health. The findings highlight the importance of educational interventions targeted towards practicing community pharmacists to improve their knowledge level on public health issues. Providing incentives for public health services rendered could increase community pharmacists' engagement in public health activities.
American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 2009
Objective. To determine pharmacy students' attitudes towards a required public health course and developing a public health program. Method. Two hundred ten first-year pharmacy students enrolled in a public health course at a large private pharmacy school were surveyed. A 24-item adjective rating scale and a 10-item scale were used to measure students' attitudes towards the course and developing a public health program. Results. Of 198 respondents, two-thirds found the course to be extremely or very appealing, of practical value, and only slightly demanding and difficult. The majority of the students indicated that establishing a public health program would be an opportunity to help the community and make a difference. Few students indicated that it would be a poor use of time or an example of busy work. Conclusion. Pharmacy students had positive attitudes towards a required public health course and developing a public health program. Strategies to mold positive attitudes into actual behaviors of engaging in public health activities are needed.
Evaluating Pharmacist Level of Involvement in Disease Prevention Activities in Nigeria
UK Journal of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, 2017
Evidence exists in literature to support involvement of community pharmacists in a broad range of preventive health activities especially in developed countries. There is a need to explore extent of pharmacists’ involvement in resource limited countries. The objectives of this study were to describe community pharmacists’ involvement in disease prevention strategies and explore facilitators and barriers to involvement. A forty item pretested self- completion questionnaire with 0.944 reliability was administered to a convenient sample of 500 community pharmacists in 3 major cities in Nigeria. Self- reported involvement in preventive health strategies was evaluated on a 5 point response scale ranging from 1 (Not involved at all ) to 5 (very much involved). Response rate was 90.6% (453/500). Mean scores on face to face delivery of preventive health service was consistently higher than leaflet or text message. Pharmacists were mostly involved in preventive health services in the area o...
Pharmacy and public health: A pathway forward
Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, 2014
J o u r n a l o f t h e A m e r i c a n P h a r m a c i s t s A s s o c i a t i o n japha.org e220 JAPhA | Abstract Objective: To identify a pathway forward for practicing pharmacists in supporting public health initiatives by applying the five core competencies of public health.
Assessment of the preventive health content of pharmacy curriculum in Nigerian universities
2018
There is a compelling need for curricular adjustments if pharmacy graduates are to effectively deliver preventive health services. Objective: To evaluate pharmacy training curriculum of Nigerian universities for contents of preventive healthcare services Method: A forty-two item pre-tested questionnaire with Cronbach’s alpha 0.875, was administered to the Heads of the Clinical Pharmacy department in 14 faculties of pharmacy in Nigeria. Data were expressed as frequency and percentages. Possible relationships were explored using Chi -square test. Results: Only four (28%) offered public health as a stand-alone course. Although the proportion of schools that incorporated preventive health topics in the curriculum ranged from 50 to 78%, topics such as disaster management, immunisation, accident prevention and infant nutrition were taught by only a few faculties. Regarding trainer capability, more than 70% (10) of faculties had only one or two faculty members with a degree in public healt...
Malaysian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences
The Nigerian health system continues to face double burden of communicable and noncommunicable diseases. To meet the country’s health needs, the number of healthcare professionals participating in public health activities must be increased. The purpose of this study was to assess the attitudes, practices and barriers to rendering public health services among community pharmacists in a southwestern Nigerian state. We used a pretested self-administered questionnaire to collect data on 120 community pharmacists’ sociodemographic characteristics, practices, attitudes and barriers to providing public health services. Participating pharmacists must have at least one year of experience working in a community pharmacy. Data were summarised descriptively using IBM SPSS (version 23.0). Females’ respondents were (n = 69, 57.5%) and (n = 82, 68.3%) pharmacists had 1 year– 5 years’ experience. Most (n = 116, 96.7%) of the respondents agreed that pharmacists should be involved in public health ac...
Partners in Public Health: Public Health Collaborations With Schools of Pharmacy, 2015
Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974)
To collect data on public health collaborations with schools of pharmacy, we sent a short electronic survey to accredited and preaccredited pharmacy programs in 2015. We categorized public health collaborations as working or partnering with local and/or state public health departments, local and/or state public health organizations, academic schools or programs of public health, and other public health collaborations. Of 134 schools, 65 responded (49% response rate). Forty-six (71%) responding institutions indicated collaborations with local and/or state public health departments, 34 (52%) with schools or programs of public health, and 24 (37%) with local and/or state public health organizations. Common themes of collaborations included educational programs, community outreach, research, and teaching in areas such as tobacco control, emergency preparedness, chronic disease, drug abuse, immunizations, and medication therapy management. Interdisciplinary public health collaborations w...
Heliyon, 2020
Background: It is revealing that pharmacy as a key health care profession is almost invisible within more recent health policy initiatives in Nigeria. This research is an effort to improve awareness about the pharmacy profession. The target shall be young, science inclined individuals in high schools; they are the future. Objective: To assess the levels of knowledge of high school science students about pharmacy and their interest in becoming pharmacists before and after sessions of awareness and education about the profession. Method: The study was a behavioral intervention study with pre and post cross-sectional survey; carried out in three high schools across Lagos, Nigeria; 127 science students participated. Information was collected using questionnaires inquiring into the career interests of the students and their levels of awareness of the pharmacy profession before and after series of coordinated sensitization about pharmacy. There was one sensitization exercise conducted per school and each lasted for about 80 min with breaks in between. An average of 40 students per school (all science majors present on the day of the survey) participated in the study. A pretest was first conducted, followed by the campaign and then a posttest to assess impact. Communication was done in English language all through the survey. Results: and Discussion: Most of the students claimed to know who a pharmacist is. However, upon further probe, only 3.1 percent of the respondents had a very good knowledge of what the pharmacy profession entails, from the pretest. At the end of the awareness discussions, an appreciable 18.1 percent of the students now had very good knowledge of the pharmacy profession. Similarly, a better 11.8 percent of students became interested in becoming pharmacists against the previously recorded 5.5 percent. This depicts how strategic advocacies can be utilized in building good professionals and ensuring a sustainable legacy for pharmacy in Nigeria. Conclusion: The study establishes that the knowledge and awareness of high school science students about the pharmacy profession is relatively low across three selected secondary schools. The sensitization held yielded measurable improvement in awareness and interest. In view of this, Pharmacists in Nigeria are implored to do more of career mentorship.
American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 2009
Objectives. To examine the relationship between pharmacy college/school affiliation and community pharmacies' involvement in immunization and emergency preparedness activities. Methods. Telephone interviews were completed with 1,704 community pharmacies randomly sampled from 17 states to determine the pharmacies' involvement in immunization promotion, vaccine distribution, in-house immunization delivery, and health emergency preparedness and response, affiliation with college/school of pharmacy, and selected pharmacy and public health-related characteristics. Results. Pharmacy college/school-affiliated community pharmacies were more likely than nonaffiliated pharmacies to participate in immunization and emergency preparedness when controlling for pharmacy characteristics. College/school affiliation generally became nonsignificant, however, when public health-related characteristics were included in the analysis. Conclusions. Affiliation with a college/school of pharmacy was related to community pharmacies' involvement in immunization and emergency preparedness.