Knowledge and practice of the Global Initiative for Asthma report among community pharmacists in a Nigerian State

INTRODUCTION: few studies have been conducted to evaluate pharmacists´ knowledge and practice of the asthma guidelines. The Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) report was developed to reduce practice variability and to improve the quality of asthma care. This study aimed to assess the knowledge and practice of the GINA report among community pharmacists in a Nigerian State. METHODS: this cross-sectional survey was conducted among community pharmacists in Enugu State, Nigeria (May to July, 2018). Data were collected with a 39-item structured self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using the IBM SPSS Version 21.0. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize data. Inferential statistics utilized the Pearson Chi-Square test where applicable, with statistical significance set at P < 0.05. RESULTS: a total of 89 community pharmacists in Enugu State participated in the study (76.7% participation rate). More than half of them were less than 40 years old (60.7%), male (59.6%) and only had the Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm) degree (83.1%). About a tenth of the community pharmacists (10.1%) reported that they stock the peak flow meter. Few of them (2.2%) utilized the Asthma Control Test™ in their practice. After categorization, less than half of the community pharmacists had good knowledge of asthma (34.8%) and demonstrated good practice of the GINA report (11.2%). CONCLUSION: the community pharmacists had poor knowledge of asthma and demonstrated poor practice of the GINA report. With adequate knowledge of the guidelines, community pharmacists can assist patients with making informed decisions and proffer appropriate recommendations to physicians.