ASSESSING THE PRACTICE OF PATIENT COUNSELING AMONG SELECTED COMMUNITY AND HOSPITAL PHARMACISTS: BASIS IN THE PROCESS IMPROVEMENT OF COUNSELING IN PHARMACY PROFESSION

Angelica Faye I. Alde, Patricia Elaine B. Amba, *Shania Regina M. Arevalo, Lyka Joyce N. Hipolito and
Cristina Pilar A. Lim

ABSTRACT

One of the important responsibilities of community and hospital pharmacists is to do patient counseling. Patient counseling is described as providing patients/clients or their representatives orally or in written form with prescription information on directions of use, advice on side effects, precautions, storage, improvements in diet and lifestyle. It helps pharmacists promote adherence to medications, prevent treatment failure, and assist patients/clients deal with their conditions. This study aims to determine the demographic profile of the respondents and their level of engagement in pharmacy counseling in terms of the following factors: Dosage Counseling, Results Counseling, Underlying Condition Counseling and General Information Counseling. Also, to determine if there is a significant difference in the pharmacy counseling per factors assess based on demographic profile. As well as the process improvements that can be proposed to effectively practice counseling in Pharmacy profession. The methods that were used by the researchers was purposive sampling. This is a nonprobability sampling method where subjects are selected by the judgment of the researcher. The respondents are selected because they fit a particular profile needed for this study. To gather information, the researchers formulated survey questionnaire, which was validated and underwent reliability testing and was converted into google survey form for online data gathering. The result of this study shows majority of the Community and Hospital pharmacists always practiced Dosage Counseling and oftentimes practiced the Results Counseling, Underlying Condition Counseling and General Information counseling. Therefore, patient counseling is necessary to be practiced and provided by Community and Hospital pharmacists.

Keywords: Patient Counseling, Dosage Counseling, Results Counseling, Underlying Condition Counseling, General Information Counseling.