Hospital and community pharmacists' perception of the scope, barriers and challenges of pharmacy practice-based research in Nigeria.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate perception, extent of involvement and barriers to pharmacy practice-based research among community and hospital pharmacists in Ibadan, Oyo state, southwestern Nigeria.

METHODS: A prospective cross-sectional study was carried out among 65 hospital and 86 community pharmacists with at least five-year post-qualification experience, using pre-tested questionnaire. Socio-demographic information, extent of involvement, relevance and scope, as well as barriers to pharmacy practice-based research were explored. Data were summarised using descriptive statistics. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney-U tests were used for evaluating ranked variables at p<0.05.

RESULTS: Nearly all participants (>95.0%) in each practice category agreed that pharmacy practice-based research is essential to pharmacy profession. Greater than 90.0% agreed that pharmacy practice-based research may help in identifying gaps to improve practice. Thirty-five (40.7%) community and 36(55.4%) hospital pharmacist participants had previously involved in practice-based research. Seventy-seven (89.5%) community and 55(84.3%) hospital pharmacists agreed that acquisition of additional research-oriented training is essential for effective conduct of pharmacy practice-based research. More than one-half in each category agreed that inadequate financial commitment and lack of access to patient's data are major barriers to pharmacy practice-based research.

CONCLUSIONS: Community and hospital pharmacists agreed that pharmacy practice based research is essential to pharmacy profession, especially in identifying areas of focus to improve practice. Necessity for acquiring additional training in research, financial constraints and lack of access to patient's data were identified as barriers to pharmacy practice-based research. Thus, there is a need to continually stimulate pharmacists' interest in research so as to enhance professional competence and promote healthcare development.