Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Effect of Divergence in Patients' Socioeconomic Background on their Perspective of the Role of the Community Pharmacist in Amman, Jordan

Eyad Qunaibi¹ , Iman A Basheti¹, Salim A Hamadi², Nailya R Bulatova³, Adam Shanah¹, Eman Abu-Gharbieh⁴

¹Faculty of Pharmacy, Applied Sciences University, Amman; ²Department of Pharmacology & Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, Petra University; ³Department of Biopharmaceutics & Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan; ⁴Dubai Pharmacy College, Dubai, UAE.

For correspondence:- Eyad Qunaibi Email: yequnaibi@asu.edu.jo

Received: 24 May 2012 Accepted: 15 January 2013 Published: 24 April 2013

Citation: Qunaibi E, Basheti IA, Hamadi SA, Bulatova NR, Shanah A, Abu-Gharbieh E. Effect of Divergence in Patients' Socioeconomic Background on their Perspective of the Role of the Community Pharmacist in Amman, Jordan. Trop J Pharm Res 2013; 12(2):247-253 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v12i2.18

© 2013 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To examine the effect of divergence in patients’ socioeconomic background on their perspective of the roles of the pharmacist in Amman, Jordan.

Methods: This was a single-phase observational study conducted in two different socioeconomic areas: Western (WA) and Eastern Amman (EA, which is of a lower socioeconomic status than WA) in March to May of both 2009 and 2010. A validated questionnaire was completed by patients walking into community pharmacies. The source of advice (clinical specialist, general practitioner, pharmacist, nurse or herbalist) regarding patient's disease management and medication use, as well as patients’ expectation of the pharmacist were investigated.

Results: 2000 patients (mean age: 35.1 ± 13.7 years, 57.2 % males) visiting community pharmacies in Amman (1000 each from WA and EA) took part in the study. The majority of patients chose the pharmacist as the source of advice on medication use (WA, 50.8 %; EA, 53.6 %), followed by the clinical specialist (WA, 35.7 % vs EA, 26.9 %, p = 0.001). Other aspects of patient perspective and expectation of the pharmacist were also assessed; in several instances, more reliance on the pharmacist was observed in EA (lower socioeconomic status) than in WA.

Conclusion: The findings of this study is important for future social pharmacy studies in the area, as it shows that socioeconomic status influences patient’s perception of the role of the community pharmacist in Amman, Jordan.

Keywords: Socioeconomic status, Community pharmacist, Jordan, Patient perception, Counseling