Public Perceptions, Expectations, and Views of Community Pharmacy Practice in Kuwait.

OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to determine public patterns for use of community pharmacies, perceptions of pharmacists, confidence and trust in pharmacists, and expectations about the pharmacist's roles, and to explore the public views and satisfaction with the current pharmacy services.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A descriptive, cross-sectional survey was performed using a pretested self-administered questionnaire on a sample of 481 individuals selected using a 2-stage stratified cluster sampling design. Descriptive and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used for data analysis. p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS: The most common reasons for visiting a pharmacy were to purchase medications (prescription: n = 338 [78.1%] and nonprescription: n = 296 [68.4%]). Of the 433 respondents, 87 believed that pharmacists had a good balance between health and business matters; regarding any drug-related problem, 229 (52.9%) identified the physician as the first person to contact, followed by the pharmacist (n = 140; 32.3%); 255 (58.9%) agreed that they trust pharmacists, while 237 (54.8%) agreed that pharmacists have the ability to answer drug- or disease-related questions. Of the 433 respondents, 236 (54.5%) did not expect the pharmacist's role to include monitoring health progress to ensure safe and effective use of medications, and 258 (59.6%) were satisfied with the current pharmacy services.

CONCLUSION: The current study indicated that respondents had overall negative perceptions of community pharmacists, expressed moderate expectations of their role, and viewed the current pharmacy services as slightly positive. These findings highlight the need for designing multifaceted interventions targeting specific areas to advance the community pharmacy practice in Kuwait.