OBJECTIVE Current regulations in Jordan state that antibiotics cannot be sold without a medical prescription. This study aimed to assess the percentage of pharmacies that dispense antibiotics without a medical prescription in the Kingdom of Jordan and identify and highlight the extent and seriousness of such practices among Jordanian pharmacies. METHODS A prospective study was performed, and ...

Implementing an appropriate drug dispensing system in hospitals is essential to ensure the safe and rational use of drugs. This study aimed to assess the unit-dose drug dispensing system (DDS) and the ward-stock DDS utilized in Gaza hospitals to ascertain which system is more beneficial. The quantitative, comparative cross-sectional design utilized structured interviews with pharmacists and hea...

Significant strides have been made in electronic (e)-prescribing standards and software applications that have further fueled the adoption and use of e-prescribing. However, for e-prescribing to realize its full potential for improving the safety, effectiveness, and efficiency of prescription drug delivery, important work remains to be carried out. This perspective describes the ultimate goal o...

Overuse of antibiotics has contributed to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria globally. In Egypt, patients can purchase antibiotics without a prescription, and we hypothesized frequent inappropriate antibiotic prescribing and dispensing. We interviewed physicians (n = 236) and pharmacists (n = 483) and conducted focus groups in Minya, Egypt, to assess attitudes and practices regardin...

INTRODUCTION Medication errors outside the hospital have been poorly studied despite representing an important threat to patient safety. OBJECTIVE To describe the characteristics of medication errors in outpatient dispensing pharmacists reported in a pharmaco-surveillance system between 2005 and 2013 in Colombia. MATERIALS AND METHODS We conducted a descriptive study by reviewing and catego...

OBJECTIVE To report the attitudes of community pharmacists in Kabul, Afghanistan, concerning the quality and price of locally manufactured medicines. METHODS A cross-sectional descriptive study, involving a sample of 198 community pharmacists was conducted in Kabul city. RESULTS With a response rate of 100%, most of the respondents 70.7% had 11-20 years experience working as a pharmacist. A...

Brazilian pharmacists’ education and training aims to prepare them for the various activities they will undertake during professional practice, especially in national health system (SUS). By using an exploratory transversal study based on a validated questionnaire, we have characterized educational background of pharmacists working SUS municipal units Ribeirão Preto, State São Paulo (SP), Brazi...

Medication errors threaten patient safety by requiring admission, readmission, and/or a longer hospital stay, and can even be fatal. Near-misses indicate the potential for medication errors to have occurred. Therefore, reporting near-misses is a first step in preventing medication errors. The aim of this study was to estimate the reporting rate of near-misses among pharmacists in Korean hospita...

INTRODUCTION Pharmacists play a key role while dispensing over-the-counter emergency contraception (EC) to the client. AIMS The study aims to evaluate the knowledge and over-the-counter services provided by the pharmacists in Delhi. METHODS A prestructured questionnaire-based survey was conducted in Delhi, the capital city of India. RESULTS Only 60 out of 85 pharmacies approached agreed t...

BACKGROUND As the date for the introduction of biosimilars in the United States approaches, questions remain regarding the naming, coding, and approval process for these agents that will need to be carefully considered. OBJECTIVES To (a) ascertain pharmacists' awareness of and comfort level with biosimilars and (b) determine the impact of identical or different nonproprietary names on pharmac...