A Survey Study to Measure the Practice of Patient Counselling and Other Community Pharmacy Services in Jordan

Objectives: To identify the type of services currently provided by community pharmacists and to explore the barriers for providing high-quality services within the community pharmacy sector in Jordan. Methods: Using random sampling technique, pharmacies were approached to take part in this questionnaire-based research. All the collected data were analysed using PASW^® 18.0. Correlations were studied using Pearson's correlation. Key findings: From the 714 community pharmacies that were approached, 374 pharmacists were responded to the survey 52.4%. The majority of pharmacies provided patient counselling for long-term conditions and weight management (72.5%, n = 271 and 70.3%, n = 263 respectively). Lack of patient interest was the main barrier for not providing pharmaceutical services according to 50.8% of pharmacists. Three-quarters of the pharmacists preferred to be given incentives for providing pharmaceutical services by government (73.3%, n = 274). There were significant correlations between providing community pharmacy services and subspecialty of the responding pharmacists (r = 0.142, P < 0.01), experience (r = 0.150, P < 0.01). Concerns regarding patient adherence to medications were raised by 88% of pharmacists. There was a significant positive correlation between subspecialty and concerns about adherence (r = −0.160, P < 0.01), on the other hand, significant negative correlation was found between years of experience and concerns about adherence (r = −0.246, P < 0.01). Conclusions: This study provides baseline data for policymakers on what pharmaceutical services are currently available across community pharmacies in Jordan and what barriers to these services may exist. These data also give an insight into how to improve the delivery of professional services that could result in better health outcomes.