A Survey of Pharmacists' Knowledge, Attitudes and Barriers in Pharmaceutical Care Concept in Poland

Background: The major goals of pharmaceutical care (PC) are to improve the patient's quality of life and ensure safety of pharmacotherapy. Inclusion of a pharmacist in the multidisciplinary team caring for the patient and integration of state-of-the-art pharmaceutical services with medical care and nursing are some of the most important challenges that the health care system in Poland is facing.

Objectives: To evaluate the pharmacists attitudes towards practice in, and knowledge of PC in Poland and to identify the barriers in PC provision.

Methods: The study was designed as a multicenter study, conducted among Polish pharmacists. Random sampling technique was employed to select the study group. Face-to-face questionnaire method was used to interview the pharmacists, upon obtaining their prior verbal consent to participate in the study. The study was conducted between January 2017 and September 2019.

Results: Only 15% of the pharmacists have ever attended a training on PC. 72% believed PC provision was necessary to ensure pharmacotherapy safety. Only 63% of the pharmacists believed that preventing and solving health-related and drug therapy problems for patients were their responsibilities. The main reason for non-provision of PC by the pharmacists was the lack of time for such activities, lack of legal regulations, lack of organizational facilities.

Conclusion: This study indicates that implementation of PC is expected in Poland. Educational programs in this respect are urgently needed. PC provision should be included in the curricula of academic pharmaceutical courses.