Evaluation of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Community Pharmacists in Managing Chronic Diseases in Lahore, Pakistan

Background: The rising number of chronic illnesses such as asthma, diabetes, osteoarthritis, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease (CKD) presents a major danger to the worldwide health community. The ability of individuals to successfully manage their medical problems with the help of healthcare professionals is essential to the effective control of chronic illnesses.

Objective: The current study focuses to evaluate the knowledge of community pharmacist’s regarding chronic disease management, their attitude, and their practice to control chronic diseases.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted using random sampling method in Lahore, Pakistan. The samples collected for this study was 110. However, the final sample size was 93, the remaining forms were discarded. Data was collected by visiting community pharmacies in Lahore. The filled questionnaires were analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences program software (SPSS Inc., version 21.0, IBM corp., Armonk NY, USA). P-value of less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant values.

Results: The results, with a p value of 0.001, indicate a significant difference in adequacy of knowledge between the male and female groups. Majority of the participants have bachelor’s education and are unmarried. The p-value of 0.871 for level of education shows insignificant association between the higher education and better practice scores. The most important finding in this study is significant relationship between technology proficiency and adequacy of knowledge with p-value of 0.005. This shows that those who are more proficient in the technology are significantly more likely to have adequate knowledge.

Conclusion: This study concludes that the majority of community pharmacists had adequate knowledge regarding chronic disease management. But showed neutral attitude and fair practice towards the control of chronic diseases. In order to optimize the management of chronic diseases, community pharmacists need to exhibit best practices and a positive attitude.