Assessment of the documentation of pharmaceutical care activities among community pharmacists in Ibadan.

Background: Documentation of pharmaceutical care activities is a vital component of pharmaceutical care. Documentation is the primary method of demonstrating value within an organized healthcare system.

Objectives: The study assessed the documentation of pharmaceutical care activities among community pharmacists in Ibadan.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study carried out between August and October, 2013, where pretested structured questionnaires were administered to community pharmacists in Ibadan. The questionnaire assessed the documentation of pharmaceutical care activities among the participants. The data obtained was analyzed with descriptive statistics like frequencies and percentages using SPSS version 20. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05.

Results: Twenty-two (33.8%) respondents documented their pharmaceutical care interventions while 43 (66.2%) did not document it; 8 (18.2%) respondents employed the use of computerized documentation. Only 2 (3.1%) respondents used a standard method of PC documentation; however, only one (1.5%) of the 3 respondents could specify the standard documentation format that he used. Fifteen respondents (25.0%) document referrals while 50 (76.9%) do not document referrals. Twenty-seven (41.5%) respondents documented and reported adverse drug reactions while 38 (58.5%) respondents did not. Eighteen respondents (30.0%) documented interventions made on drug therapy problems while 47(72.3%) respondents did not.

Conclusion: Almost all the community pharmacists in Ibadan were aware of pharmaceutical care concept. The level of documentation among community pharmacists in Ibadan was very low; however, they were willing to undergo training on the pharmaceutical care concept.