Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Perceptions of Dispensers Regarding Dispensing Practices in Pakistan: A Qualitative Study

Azhar Hussain¹ , Mohamed IM Ibrahim²

¹School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia; ²Department of Social and Administrative Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, PO Box 6800, Al Qassim University, 51452 Buraidah, Al Qassim, Saudi Arabia.

For correspondence:- Azhar Hussain Email: azharhussain10971@gmail.com Tel:0092512287312

Received: 9 October 2010 Accepted: 11 February 2011 Published: 20 April 2011

Citation: Hussain A, Ibrahim MI. Perceptions of Dispensers Regarding Dispensing Practices in Pakistan: A Qualitative Study. Trop J Pharm Res 2011; 10(2):117-123 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v10i2.1

© 2011 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 explore the perceptions’ of dispensers regarding dispensing practices and the salient factors affecting dispensing practices in three major cities of Pakistan - Islamabad, Peshawar and Lahore.

Methods: A qualitative study with snowball sampling technique was used to identify fifteen dispensers working in community pharmacies in Islamabad, Peshawar and Lahore. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the dispensers until the point of saturation was obtained. The interviews which focused on three major components, namely dispensing practices, regulation and influencing factors, and suggestions for improvements were audio-taped, transcribed verbatim and analyzed.

Results: Thematic content analysis of the interview components yielded further seven major themes which were services provided at community pharmacies, quality of service provided by community pharmacies, expectation from community pharmacies, who was responsible for dispensing, obstacles to appropriate dispensing practices, laws and factors governing pharmacy practice in Pakistan, and strategies to improve current dispensing practices.

Conclusion: All respondents in the different cities agreed that there was a shortage of pharmacists leading to their roles being taken over by the non-professionally qualified personnel working in community pharmacies. They also agreed that implementation of laws governing pharmacy practice in Pakistan is weak. These two main factors were considered to be responsible for the low quality services provided at community pharmacies.

Keywords: Dispensers, Dispensing Practices, Pakistan, Qualitative methodology