Consumers' perceptions on the contribution of community pharmacists in the dispensing process at Dawadmi.

BACKGROUND: Community pharmacies are widely distributed and developments in this sector will greatly improve pharmaceutical health care delivery.

OBJECTIVES: To provide consumer's perceptions towards the contribution of community pharmacists in the dispensing process.

METHOD: The study was performed from mid-October to mid-November 2013 in Dawadmi, KSA. Data were carried out using a structured face-to-face questionnaire with randomly selected 100 consumers at different community pharmacies. The questionnaire composed of nine closed questions about consumer's perceptions towards the pharmacist's role, counselling quality and dispensing errors in community pharmacies.

RESULTS: Consumers perceive that pharmacists are not committed to dispense medications with prescription (72%), it is embarrassing to ask questions to the pharmacist in the current pharmacy premises (48%), pharmacists do not give enough counselling about their medications (48%) and they previously encountered a dispensing error (26%).

CONCLUSION: The professional performance of community pharmacists in dispensing is below expectation. Majority of consumers perceive that community pharmacists are violating pharmacy law and giving them insufficient medicine information while dispensing. Authorities should stimulate both pharmacist's and consumer's awareness by educational campaign, improve standards for the profession and penalise violators. It is a necessity for community pharmacies to develop consultation areas to assure privacy, improve counselling quality, and reduce dispensing errors.