Knowledge, Attitude, and Performance of Community Pharmacists in Isfahan on Herbal Drugs, 2008

Introduction: With regard to attributes of taking herbal medications considering multiplicity of efficacious chemicals existing in herbal drugs and needed cautions to be exerted, and also considering medicinal safety, the associated points must be precisely observed by consumers. Holding the undeniable role of pharmacists in this field, the current study was performed with the aim of evaluating knowledge, attitude performance of pharmacists of Isfahan concerning herbal drugs consumption. Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, using clustering method, 100 were selected out of total number of 350 community pharmacist occupied in pharmacies of Isfahan (year 2008). A questionnaire made by researcher (which its reliability and validity were separately completed through focus group method) was used for evaluating knowledge and attitude and also scientific scenarios (WWHAM-type question) were used for performance evaluation. After data gathering, the collected facts were analyzed by SPSS software Version 11.5 and using descriptive statistics, chi², and correlation tests (concerning significance level of p≤0.05). Results: There was a significance relation between pharmacists' knowledge on herbal drugs features and number of their graduation years (r= 0.38 and p. value= 0.0001). Meanwhile, female and male pharmacists' knowledge showed no significant difference. The range of pharmacists' attitude scores was 51 to 107 and its mean was 88.85±13.44 and considering the mean of 75 for the mentioned questionnaire, 91% of pharmacists had positive attitude to herbal drugs. The relationship between pharmacists' attitude and their knowledge on herbal drugs was not significant. A correlation (r= 0.09) was observed between pharmacists' performance and knowledge but no significant relationship was detected. No considerable relationship was observed between pharmacists' attitude and their performance as well. Conclusion: Paying attention to the objectives and classic educational curricula of pharmaceutics and making some revisions on them seems to be necessary in presenting herbal drug services. It is highly recommended to pay special attention to this topic in educational programs of continuing education of pharmacists in an applicable manner and change the traditional methods.