Evaluation of Outpatient-Pharmacists Counseling Behavior and Content in a Teaching Hospital in Jordan- An Observational Study

Pharmacists do have a unique opportunity to educate patients about their medications in order to identify, prevent and manage any potential problems they may have faced. This study aimed to characterize and evaluate the counseling behavior and content by pharmacists and pharmacy assistants in a sample of outpatient pharmacies in a teaching hospital in Jordan. The study was conducted in 6 outpatient pharmacies at the participating hospital; Endocrinology, Cardiology, Respiratory, Pediatrics, Family Medicine and Emergency staff. The study consisted of observing 60 patient-pharmacist/assistant interactions behaviors and counseling content (if exists) in 6 different outpatient pharmacies at the participating hospital. Observations were conducted by a trained researcher using a pre-validated and piloted data collection form. Out of the 60 observed interactions, only 18 interactions involved patient counseling, the type of which was both verbal and written. The initiator of counseling in 44.4% of the cases was the patient. More than 2/3 (70.0 %) of provided information to patients in all interactions was conducted using written labels only. The overall observed rate of counseling at the participating hospital pharmacies is low. There is a need to train pharmacists to offer more counseling to patients and have better communication and counseling skills.