community pharmacists' knowledge, attitude, and practice toward pharmaceutical care in eastern nepal

Background: pharmaceutical care (pc) services play a crucial role in optimizing patients' drug therapy and improving treatment outcomes. this study aimed to assess community pharmacists' awareness, attitude, and practice toward pc in eastern nepal.methods: a prospective cross-sectional study was conducted among registered pharmacists practicing community pharmacy in the morang district, eastern nepal, from february 2023 to july 2023. a self-administered 24-item structured questionnaire was used to assess participants' knowledge, attitude, and practice (kap) toward pc. the participants' kap was classified into good (>80%), moderate (60-79%), and poor (<60%) levels, respectively, using bloom's cut-off score points. the chi-square test and spearman's correlation test were employed to assess the association between the dependent and independent variables.results: a total of 193 community pharmacists participated in this study; among them, most were male (73.1%) and under 30 years old (58.5%). most participants (90.7%) had certificate-level pharmacy qualifications. the majority of the community pharmacists possessed good knowledge (65.3%) and attitude (47.7%) toward pc; however, their practice of pc services was poor (51.3%). the participants' age group and qualifications were significantly linked to a good understanding of pc, while gender was associated with better pc practices (p < 0.05).conclusion: the study revealed that nearly two-thirds of the community pharmacists had adequate knowledge about pc, but their attitude and practice toward pc were suboptimal. strict regulatory enforcement of pc-centered pharmacy practice, as well as pc practice-dedicated educational and interventional programs, are recommended for community pharmacy practitioners in this area.