Community pharmacists' use, perception and knowledge on dietary supplements: a cross sectional study.

Attitude of Health Personnel Attitudes Croatia Cross-Sectional Studies Dietary Supplements Evidence-Based Pharmacy Practice Health Knowledge Pharmacies Pharmacists Practice

Journal

Pharmacy practice
ISSN: 1885-642X
Titre abrégé: Pharm Pract (Granada)
Pays: Spain
ID NLM: 101530029

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
Historique:
received: 16 12 2020
accepted: 21 02 2021
entrez: 17 3 2021
pubmed: 18 3 2021
medline: 18 3 2021
Statut: ppublish

Résumé

Pharmacists are commonly tasked with recommending the appropriate dietary supplement and advising the patients of their correct and safe use. Previous research, conducted on pharmacy students, showed that they did not always use the evidence based sources of information, with personal use identified as a significant predictor influencing the decision to recommend a supplement. To compare use, perceptions and knowledge of dietary supplements of pharmacists with different years of work experience and to explore factors that could influence their recommendation of supplements. A questionnaire based cross-sectional study was conducted on Croatian community pharmacists in September 2017. The questionnaire explored pharmacists' demographic characteristics, use, perceptions and knowledge of dietary supplements. Pharmacists (N=102) were divided in two groups based on their work experience: P0 (<10 years) and P1 (≥10 years). All included pharmacists had high knowledge scores without differences between groups (P0=10, IQR 9-12 vs P1=11, IQR 9-12, expressed as median and interquartile range (IQR), p=0.275). Less experienced pharmacists perceived there was less research conducted on the dietary supplements compared to their more experienced counterparts (P0=1, IQR 1-2 vs P1=2, IQR 2-3, expressed as median and interquartile range, p<0.001). Groups differed in sources used when choosing the appropriate supplement with P0 using higher quality sources such as systematic reviews in comparison to P1 (32.1% vs 8.7%, p=0.004). Pharmacists' decision to recommend a dietary supplement was influenced by their personal use (odds ratio 0.216, 95%CI 0.068:0.689, p=0.01) and work experience (odds ratio 0.154, 95%CI 0.045:0.530, p=0.003). Pharmacists did not use the high quality sources when recommending dietary supplements and their decision to recommend the supplement was not based on objective evaluation of evidence. Further education about the practice of evidence-based pharmacy is necessary, with special emphasis on senior pharmacists who might have missed that aspect during their formal education.

Sections du résumé

BACKGROUND BACKGROUND
Pharmacists are commonly tasked with recommending the appropriate dietary supplement and advising the patients of their correct and safe use. Previous research, conducted on pharmacy students, showed that they did not always use the evidence based sources of information, with personal use identified as a significant predictor influencing the decision to recommend a supplement.
OBJECTIVES OBJECTIVE
To compare use, perceptions and knowledge of dietary supplements of pharmacists with different years of work experience and to explore factors that could influence their recommendation of supplements.
METHODS METHODS
A questionnaire based cross-sectional study was conducted on Croatian community pharmacists in September 2017. The questionnaire explored pharmacists' demographic characteristics, use, perceptions and knowledge of dietary supplements. Pharmacists (N=102) were divided in two groups based on their work experience: P0 (<10 years) and P1 (≥10 years).
RESULTS RESULTS
All included pharmacists had high knowledge scores without differences between groups (P0=10, IQR 9-12 vs P1=11, IQR 9-12, expressed as median and interquartile range (IQR), p=0.275). Less experienced pharmacists perceived there was less research conducted on the dietary supplements compared to their more experienced counterparts (P0=1, IQR 1-2 vs P1=2, IQR 2-3, expressed as median and interquartile range, p<0.001). Groups differed in sources used when choosing the appropriate supplement with P0 using higher quality sources such as systematic reviews in comparison to P1 (32.1% vs 8.7%, p=0.004). Pharmacists' decision to recommend a dietary supplement was influenced by their personal use (odds ratio 0.216, 95%CI 0.068:0.689, p=0.01) and work experience (odds ratio 0.154, 95%CI 0.045:0.530, p=0.003).
CONCLUSIONS CONCLUSIONS
Pharmacists did not use the high quality sources when recommending dietary supplements and their decision to recommend the supplement was not based on objective evaluation of evidence. Further education about the practice of evidence-based pharmacy is necessary, with special emphasis on senior pharmacists who might have missed that aspect during their formal education.

Identifiants

pubmed: 33727993
doi: 10.18549/PharmPract.2021.1.2251
pii: pharmpract-19-2251
pmc: PMC7939115
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Pagination

2251

Informations de copyright

Copyright: © Pharmacy Practice and the Authors.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

CONFLICT OF INTEREST The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

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Auteurs

Josipa Bukic (J)

PhD, MPharm. Department of Pharmacy, School of Medicine, University of Split. Split (Croatia). jbukic@mefst.hr.

Branka Kuzmanic (B)

MPharm. Department of Pharmacy, School of Medicine, University of Split. Split (Croatia). branka.kuzmanic@gmail.com.

Doris Rusic (D)

PhD, MPharm. Department of Pharmacy, School of Medicine, University of Split. Split (Croatia). drusic@mefst.hr.

Mate Portolan (M)

MPharm. Split-Dalmatia County Pharmacy. Split (Croatia). mate.portolan@ljekarnasdz.hr.

Ante Mihanovic (A)

PhD. Split-Dalmatia County Pharmacy. Split (Croatia). ante.mihanovic@yahoo.com.

Ana Seselja Perisin (A)

PhD, MPharm. Assistant professor. Department of Pharmacy, School of Medicine, University of Split. Split (Croatia). aperisin@mefst.hr.

Dario Leskur (D)

PhD, MPharm. Department of Pharmacy, School of Medicine, University of Split. Split (Croatia). dario.leskur@mefst.hr.

Ana Petric (A)

MPharm. Split-Dalmatia County Pharmacy. Split (Croatia). ana.petric@ljekarnasdz.hr.

Josko Bozic (J)

MD, PhD. Associate professor. Department of Pathophysiology, School of Medicine, University of Split, Split (Croatia). jbozic@mefst.hr.

Sinisa Tomic (S)

PhD; Professor. Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices. Zagreb (Croatia).sinisa.tomic@halmed.hr.

Darko Modun (D)

MD, PhD. Professor. Department of Pharmacy, School of Medicine, University of Split. Split (Croatia). dmodun@mefst.hr.

Classifications MeSH