Readiness for Drug Information Service Provision in Community Pharmacies in Akwa-Ibom State, Nigeria

This study was aimed at assessing the readiness for drug information service (DIS) provision at community pharmacies in Akwa Ibom state using a cross sectional, observational study approach. A pretested, validated questionnaire was adapted for the study. A total of 187 premises were enlisted for visits with questionnaires targeted at the superintendent pharmacists for desired responses. Response rate was 93.6%. Respondents were male (77, 44%) and female (98, 56%) with mean years of experience of respondents as 18.7 years. All respondents were aware of DIS terminologies and believed the concept to include enquiries on dosing (75%), side effects of drugs (99%), safety of drugs in cases such as pregnancy (79%), drug route of administration (80%), pill identification (66%) and substitutes to requested drugs (78%). Responses to limitations in discharging efficient DIS include non-trending service style (26%), premises requiring restructuring (26%), prohibitive setting up cost (17%) and non-availability of trained personnel (7%). At the time of this study, available resources for DIS in the premises included reference books (90%), periodicals (19%), and internet access through smart phones (60%). Secondary and tertiary sources of drug information were essentially relied on for DIS provision in the study area. There was significant association between socio-demographic characteristics such as age with readiness status (p<0.05). There was poor in-service training for effective DIS provision. Summarily, there was no significant difference (p > 0.05) in the DIS approach across the state. There is need for improvement in facilities and resources for efficient discharge of DIS in the study area.