Evaluating the Professional Practice of Pharmacists Working at Pharmacies in Isfahan City, Iran

Background: Pharmacists, in community pharmacy, play an important role in public health as they serve as guardians of the accuracy of dispensed prescription. Although the assessment of professional competence for this profession is a difficult task, however, evaluation of this profession may help for giving better services and is needed for safe use of medications. The aim of this study was evaluation of dispensing accuracy and counseling provided by community pharmacists. Methods: During the summer of 2009, a total of 146 community pharmacists in Isfahan city, Iran, were randomly selected for the study. Community pharmacies were selected as the majority of prescriptions dispensed by this kind of pharmacies. Two trained shoppers presented a new prescription order to each randomly selected pharmacy to collect the objective data. The shoppers were instructed on how to make questions from the pharmacist to evaluate the pharmacist knowledge about the dosage, interactions or side effects of prescribed medicines. Findings: In this study of dispensing accuracy and counseling, 136 pharmacists (93%) were present and 120 of them (82%) were actively participated in dispensing and counseling. About 67.8% (99 pharmacists) of pharmacists were caught the inaccuracy of prescribed drug for the patient; 65.8% (96 pharmacists) did not deliver the drug to the patients and encouraged them to consult with their doctor. Four significant drug interactions were included in the prescription; 121 pharmacists (82% of) did not shown any responses to them. Conclusion: Although pharmacists are well-informed about the drugs given when delivering drugs, but drug interactions and side effects of drugs are cases where pharmacists should consider more.