Limitations to the dynamics of pharmaceutical care practice among community pharmacists in Enugu urban, southeast Nigeria

Background The introduction of pharmaceutical care in Nigeria has been faced with many challenges in addition to limited information regarding the practice. Objective This study aimed to determine the barriers encountered by community pharmacists in Nigeria in the provision of pharmaceutical care. Methods A cross-sectional descriptive survey was carried out in Enugu urban, southeast Nigeria. Data were collected using pretested and structured 5-point Likert scale questionnaires that were self-administered to the respondents. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results The 78 community pharmacists comprised 62 males and 16 females. Out of the 78 respondents, 69 (88.5%) had the basic Bachelor of Pharmacy degree while three (3.9%) had Fellowship, Master's, and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees respectively. The mean number of years of practice was 8.2 (±0.6). The key limitations to the implementation of pharmaceutical care were: pharmacists' attitude and lack of pharmaceutical care skills, as well as resource and system-related constraints. Others challenges were interprofessional and academic obstacles like lack of collaboration (66.6%) and lack of role models (42.1%). Most of the respondents (81%) were strongly willing to adopt and implement pharmaceutical care, while 19.2% were not strongly willing to practice pharmaceutical care. Conclusion Despite limitations to practice, community pharmacists in the area are very inclined to implement pharmaceutical care in the private sector to improve patients' quality of life.