METHODS: A survey was carried out at 135 community pharmacies in nine districts of Selangor, Malaysia, from November 2017 to February 2018, using a self-administered standardized questionnaire.
RESULTS: The majority (n = 95, 85%) of community pharmacies reported to have provided services to both international travellers and outbound Malaysian travellers. The common healthcare services provided to international travellers were monitoring of chronic diseases including hypertension and diabetes, and advice on minor ailments, supplements and medical devices. The key health services provided to outbound Malaysian travellers were advice on vaccination requirements, better management of chronic diseases and necessary medications to manage illness during travel. Most of the respondents supported the provision of travel health-related services through the community pharmacies.
CONCLUSION: The study findings showed that Malaysian community pharmacies provided several travel health-related services to both international and Malaysian outbound travellers. Pharmacists in Malaysia are ideally positioned to have an increased role in travel medicine. They have the training to advise on complex medication issues especially with regard to interactions and polypharmacy. However, further training and courses should be provided that are tailored specifically for the needs of this professional group.
METHODS: Seven licensed practicing community pharmacists (from the Klang Valley, Malaysia) were interviewed between 23rd September to 14th November 2021. These were CPs participating in the questionnaire study who agreed to be interviewed. NVIVO 11 software was used for data analysis. Codes and themes were generated and agreed on by the researchers.
RESULTS: The major themes identified related to the process mentioned of providing information to patients, the issues addressed by CPs during the counselling (including steroid phobia, overuse of TCS, patients asking for a specific preparation by name), less counselling support material, language barriers, lesser knowledge about certain conditions, information sources used by CPs (material provided by Ministry of Health and Malaysian Pharmacists Association, MIMS) and suggestions to strengthen the quality of counselling (specialization in skin diseases, webinars, shared care models). For patients requesting a particular preparation by name, the pharmacist will decide whether the preparation requested is suitable or suggest an alternative. Steroid phobia was seen more commonly among parents of young children and young patients. MIMS was available as a smartphone application making it easier to use. Advanced training for CPs in the management of skin conditions like that provided for diabetes mellitus can be considered.
CONCLUSIONS: Counselling was conducted while dispensing TCS in the open area of the pharmacy. Challenges to counselling were lack of time, limited counselling materials, and language barriers. Steroid phobia requires attention. Initiatives to strengthen counselling were mentioned by respondents and appear feasible. Further research covering the entire country is required.
METHODS: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted using an online questionnaire. Community pharmacists in Malaysia were invited to participate in the study via emails. The questionnaire was structured based on the Malaysian Community Pharmacy Benchmarking Guidelines, the five practice principles of pharmaceutical care by the American Pharmacists Association and other studies. The online questionnaire was opened for 6 months, from April to September 2018. A reminder to participate was sent via email to the community pharmacists every fortnight.
RESULTS: A total of 420 community pharmacists responded to the online questionnaire. Besides essential services such as treatment for minor illness, medicine dispensing and counselling, most of the respondents were providing health screening and monitoring (99.5%), selection and recommendation of health supplements (90.5%), patient medication review (68.8%), weight management (52.4%) and counselling on smoking cessation (51.0%). More than half (53.3%) of the respondents reported that they were providing pharmaceutical care services to patients with chronic diseases. Based on the practice principles of pharmaceutical care, the respondents were involved in patients' data collection (23.3%), medical information evaluation (18.6%), formulating a drug therapy plan (9.3%), implementing a drug therapy plan (4.5%), and monitoring and modifying the plan (18.3%). Lack of separation between prescribing and dispensing was perceived as the main barrier to the implementation of pharmaceutical care services by a majority of the respondents (84.0%).
CONCLUSIONS: The present study found that pharmaceutical care services provided by community pharmacists in Malaysia were inadequate compared to international practice principles. Areas that need improvement included collaboration with patients' other health care providers; more proactive management of patient's medicine regimen; having proper patient monitoring and follow-up mechanisms, and documentation.
SETTING: The study was carried out in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study using a self administered questionnaire including adults above 21 years old as an exit survey was conducted in Kuala Lumpur.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of medications taken in a day by participants, source of medication for the treatment of minor illnesses among participants, common illnesses chosen for self-medication by participants, and the sources of information of participants.
RESULTS: Of 314 participants, 62.7% had taken at least one medication in the past week without prescription and 62.7% believed that over the counter medicines were just as effective as those prescribed by doctors. 69.4% would seek a healthcare professional's advice before purchasing any medication and 86.9% would consult a pharmacist prior to buying medication from the pharmacy. Only 86% checked the expiry dates on medications and 54.5% reported keeping leftover medication.
CONCLUSIONS: Self-medication practice is prevalent in Kuala Lumpur but some practice might be harmful. Education on appropriate use of self-medication need to be emphasized in order to ensure quality use of medicines.
METHOD: This cross-sectional survey was conducted among community pharmacists in all 14 states of Malaysia between November 2021 and July 2022. The self-administered survey was shared to relevant groups through various social media platforms.
RESULTS: A total of 312 community pharmacists were involved in the survey. Majority of the respondents were females (66%), with a mean age (SD) of 32.9 (8.4) years. Most of the respondents showed satisfactory practice for patient counselling, but improvements are needed particularly in risk assessment and collaborative care aspect. Most of them expressed their interest for dyslipidemia management training (89.4%). Lack of access to medical records (71.2%) and lack of CVD-related educational materials (70.8%) were the two main perceived barriers identified.
CONCLUSION: Community pharmacists in Malaysia provide a satisfactory role in the provision of cardiovascular disease-related health promotion activities, especially in providing patient counselling. Strengthening collaborative care is essential for providing comprehensive and patient-centered intervention in dyslipidemia management. This requires ongoing efforts to address and overcome existing barriers for effective teamwork and coordination among healthcare professionals.
OBJECTIVES: This study examined community pharmacists' beliefs towards risk minimization measures in off-label drug use in Malaysia and assessed the relationship between perceived risk of off-label drug use and beliefs towards risk minimization measures.
METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 154 pharmacists practicing in randomly selected community pharmacies in Kuala Lumpur and the State of Selangor, Malaysia.
RESULTS: The majority agreed or strongly agreed that adverse drug events from the off-label drug should be reported to the regulatory authority (90.9%) and the off-label drug should only be used when the benefit outweighs potential risks (88.3%). Less than half (48.1%) agreed or strongly agreed that written informed consent should be obtained before dispensing off-label drugs and a majority (63.7%) agreed or strongly agreed that the informed consent process will be burdensome to healthcare professionals. Beliefs towards risk minimization measures were significantly associated with perceived risk of off-label drug use regarding efficacy (p = 0. 033), safety (p = 0.001), adverse drug rection (p = 0.001) and medication errors (p = 0.002).
CONCLUSION: The community pharmacists have positive beliefs towards most of the risk minimization measures. However, beliefs towards written informed consent requirements are not encouraging. Enhancing risk perception may help influence positive beliefs towards risk minimization measures.
METHODS: A self-administered KAP questionnaire was distributed to a convenience sample of pharmacists in Kuala Lumpur identified from the list of licensed community pharmacists in Malaysia year 2014.
KEY FINDINGS: Questionnaires were returned by 111 pharmacists of 143 distributed (response rate, 78%). Most of the respondents (82%) were not trained in travel medicine. Overall, mean knowledge score was 4.4 ( ± 1.7), indicating a moderate level of knowledge on a variety of travel-related health issues. Community pharmacists who graduated from foreign universities possessed significantly higher knowledge scores than did those who graduated locally (P < 0.05). The majority had a positive attitude towards travel medicine. A vast majority provided travel medicine advice mainly to adults who travel as tourists, and the primary travel advice given was on traveller's diarrhoea.
CONCLUSION: There are gaps in the knowledge and practice of travel medicine among Malaysian pharmacists. Positive attitudes of pharmacists towards travel medicine and appropriate interventions, such as incorporation of travel medicine in local pharmacy curricula, continuous pharmacy education or certified training may improve the quality of travel advice given and allow pharmacists to be recognised as a credible source of information on travel medicine.
METHODS: This study utilised a simulated client method. A research assistant, acting as a simulated client, visited community pharmacies in the Klang Valley, Malaysia to consult the pharmacists on the treatment of a cough experienced by his father. Upon leaving the pharmacy premise, the simulated client entered the pharmacist's responses in a data collection form which was structured based on pharmacy mnemonics for the response to symptoms, OBRA'90 on counselling elements, the five practice principles of pharmaceutical care by the American Pharmacists Association and literature review. Visits to the community pharmacies were conducted from September to October 2018.
RESULTS: The simulated client visited a total of 100 community pharmacies. None of these community pharmacists practised adequate patients' data collection, with only a low proportion who practised all the components studied under medication information evaluation (13%), formulating a drug therapy plan (15%) and monitoring and modifying the plan (3%). Of the 100 community pharmacists, 98 recommended treatment but none of them provided all the counselling elements studied in implementing the drug therapy plan.
CONCLUSION: The present study showed that community pharmacists within the Klang Valley, Malaysia were not providing adequate pharmaceutical care services to patients seeking self-medication for a cough. Such practice may compromise patient safety if inappropriate medicines or advice are given.