Pharmacists’ Knowledge, Attitudes and Beliefs Regarding Intervention for Prescription Medicines Abuse

Background: Abuse of medicines is becoming a serious problem in many parts of the world, with negative consequences ranging from addiction, psychosis, cardiovascular complications, and premature deaths from unintentional overdose. In Pakistan, prescription drugs, which are misused or abused by some patients, are often obtained from pharmacies. However, intervention for prescription drugs misuse has not been tested in this setting. Objectives: The objective of the study was to assess knowledge, perception and attitudes regarding interventions towards the abuse of prescription medicines (PM) among practicing pharmacists in Pakistan. Materials and Methods: This transversal study was conducted from June to September 2015 by adopting a pre validated questionnaire distributed to practicing pharmacists in different private and public sector hospitals of Karachi. Descriptive statistics were used to demonstrate participants’ demographic information and their response to the questionnaire items. Pearson’s chi-squared test was executed to evaluate the association of gender, age, organization, and experience of pharmacists with their response. A p value < 0.05 was considered as significant. Results: The study revealed that mass population 75% claimed that they had adequate knowledge of prescription medicine abuse. 81.25% perceived drug abuse as a problem and 88.10% considered that the role of pharmacist was very important in prevention of PM abuse. However pharmacists were not confident that patients would take their advice, respond positively and make needed behavior changes. Respondents also were not confident regarding the manner in which screenings and interventions should occur. Conclusion: Findings from this study will assist health authorities to formulate appropriate health promotion interventions to control and prevent abuse of prescription medicines. Actions directed at early intervention, capacity building, education, public health initiatives and law enforcements will hopefully curb the menace of PM abuse.