Factors affecting community pharmacists’ capacity to deliver pharmacy services in Zhengzhou, China: a cross-sectional study

Objective To assess the factors that affect the capacity of community pharmacists to deliver pharmacy services (PSs) in Zhengzhou, China.Design An online, cross-sectional survey was conducted.Setting and participants A stratified sampling method was used to select community pharmacists for questionnaires. A total of 124 community pharmacists from various districts of Zhengzhou were included in this study.Results Principal component regression analysis showed that cumulative hours of continuing education (CE), job satisfaction, career prospects, awareness of the need for CE and income had a positive impact on pharmacists’ capacity to deliver PS, with a gradually decreasing degree of influence.Conclusions Most pharmacists felt that their capacity to provide PS met the basic public requirements. Cumulative CE hours had the most significant effect on pharmacists’ capacity to provide PS, while income had the least effect. The government, grassroots community pharmacies, pharmacists and the public should formulate timely and targeted measures to enhance the PS capacity of community pharmacists.