Qatar pharmacists' understanding, attitudes, practice and perceived barriers related to providing pharmaceutical care

Background Pharmaceutical care (PC) is the philosophy of practice that includes identifying and resolving medication therapy problems to improve patient outcomes. Objectives The study objectives were to examine the extent of pharmaceutical care practice and the barriers to pharmaceutical care provision as perceived by Qatar pharmacists and to assess their level of understanding of pharmaceutical care and their attitudes about pharmaceutical care provision. Setting Qatar pharmacies. Methods A cross sectional survey of all pharmacists in Qatar was made. Consenting pharmacists were given the option to complete the survey either online using an online software or as paper by fax or by hand. Main outcome measures 1. Extent of pharmaceutical care practice in Qatar. 2. Barriers to pharmaceutical care provision in Qatar. 3. Qatar pharmacists' level of understanding of pharmaceutical care. 4. Qatar pharmacists' attitudes toward pharmaceutical care provision. Results Over 8 weeks, 274 surveys were collected (34 % response rate). More than 80 % of respondents had correct understanding of the aim of PC and of the pharmacist role in PC. However, only 47 % recognized the patient role in PC and only 35 % were aware of the differences between clinical pharmacy and PC. Yet, more than 80 % believed that they could be advocates when it comes to patients' medications and health matters. Concerning their practice, respondents reported spending little time on PC activities. Offering feedback to the physician about the patient progress was always or most of the time performed by 21 % of respondents. The top perceived barriers for PC provision included inconvenient access to patient medical information (78 %) and lack of staff and time (77 and 74 % respectively). Conclusions Although PC is not incorporated into pharmacy practice, Qatar pharmacists showed positive attitudes toward PC provision. Further work should focus on improving their PC understanding and on overcoming all barriers.