Abstract
Background To follow international standards, the Lebanese Order of Pharmacists would like to start to implement the medication therapy management in community pharmacies. Objective The objective of this study is to evaluate community pharmacists’ knowledge of and readiness for medication therapy management. Setting Community pharmacists from all Lebanese regions. Method A cross-sectional observational descriptive study was conducted. Pharmacists at their workplace completed self-administered anonymous standardized questionnaires between June and December 2016, with no compensation in return. Statistical analysis was conducted using bi-variate and multi-variable methods. Main outcome measure The major dependent variable of interest was the willingness to engage in medication therapy management activities. Results While only 376 (46%) of the interviewed pharmacists declared to be familiar with this concept, the majority of interviewed pharmacists 646 (78.8%) agreed on the importance of patient-centered care. Although this service will not be remunerated at this stage, 529 (64.5%) were willing to attend advanced training sessions to become actively engaged in medication therapy management, particularly those who had adequate workflow, staff and time at their workplace (aOR = 1.51; p = 0.045) and those agreeing to review a patient’s medication profile and provide interventions as part of their role (aOR = 6.10; p < 0.001). Conclusion Lebanese pharmacists have adequate knowledge and a positive attitude towards medication therapy management services implementation; however, barriers could arise such as inadequate time, workflow and physical space. Efforts should be exerted by the Lebanese Order of Pharmacist to extend the role of the pharmacist and its positive effect on patient outcome.
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Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the contributions of Abeer Zeitoun, Aline Hajj, Ayman Alameddine, Bahia Chahine, Elsy Ramia, Faraj Saade, Ghada Khoury, Jihan Safwan, Marwan Akel, Michelle Cherfan, Nibal Chamoun, Nouhad Sarkis, Nour Bakkour, Rony Zeenny, Ruba Shdeed, Soha Faraj, Souheil Hallit, Sylvia Saade. The authors would also like to thank all the pharmacists employed at the OPL for their help in collecting and entering data.
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We declare that the corresponding and main co-author Hala SACRE is a full-time employee at the Lebanese Order of Pharmacists, Drug Information Center Department. The author Georges SILI is the current president of the Lebanese Order of Pharmacists (non-profit position) and the author Pascale SALAMEH is the current chair (non-profit position) of the scientific committee at the Lebanese Order of Pharmacists. We have no other conflict of interest to declare.
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Domiati, S., Sacre, H., Lahoud, N. et al. Knowledge of and readiness for medication therapy management among community pharmacists in Lebanon. Int J Clin Pharm 40, 1165–1174 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-018-0666-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-018-0666-0