IntroductionCommunity pharmacists are the health professionals most accessible to the public. To ensure the quality of the products pharmacists supply,pharmacists have progressively undertaken the additional task.
The main activities of community pharmacists are processing of prescriptions,monitoring of drug utilization,care of patients and extemporaneous preparation and small-scale manufacture of medicinesPharmacists supply traditional medicines and dispense homoeopathic prescriptions in some countries.The community pharmacists also responding to symptoms of minor ailments.The pharmacist can take part in health promotion campaigns, locally and nationally, on a wide range of health-related topics, and particularly on drug-related topics for example alcohol abuse and tobacco use.The pharmacist provides an advisory as well as a supply service to residential homes for the elderly, and other long-term patients in a number ofcountries.Pharmacists supply animal medicines and medicated animal feeds ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Organisation(WHO)</Author><Year>1994</Year><RecNum>6</RecNum><DisplayText>(1)</DisplayText><record><rec-number>6</rec-number><foreign-keys><key app=”EN” db-id=”xa9rpz50xw52deeevf2pvta8erxf9ez5vsvf” timestamp=”1541550468″>6</key></foreign-keys><ref-type name=”Journal Article”>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author>World Health Organisation(WHO)</author></authors></contributors><titles><title>The Role of the Pharmacist in the Health Care System</title></titles><dates><year>1994</year></dates><urls></urls></record></Cite></EndNote>(1).Due to changes in pharmacists’ training and population health demands, the role of pharmacists has transformed significantly.
Patients are increasingly turning to pharmacists for a more holistic approach to their care,as a result,there has been a shift within community pharmacy practice. ADDIN EN.CITE ;EndNote;;Cite;;Author;Hassali;/Author;;Year;2009;/Year;;RecNum;7;/RecNum;;DisplayText;(2);/DisplayText;;record;;rec-number;7;/rec-number;;foreign-keys;;key app=”EN” db-id=”xa9rpz50xw52deeevf2pvta8erxf9ez5vsvf” timestamp=”1541550616″;7;/key;;/foreign-keys;;ref-type name=”Journal Article”;17;/ref-type;;contributors;;authors;;author;Hassali, MA;/author;;author;Awaisu, A;/author;;author;Shafie, AA;/author;;author;Saeed, MS;/author;;/authors;;/contributors;;titles;;title;Professional training and roles of community pharmacists in Malaysia: views from general medical practitioners;/title;;secondary-title;Malaysian family physician: the official journal of the Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia;/secondary-title;;/titles;;periodical;;full-title;Malaysian family physician: the official journal of the Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia;/full-title;;/periodical;;pages;71;/pages;;volume;4;/volume;;number;2-3;/number;;dates;;year;2009;/year;;/dates;;urls;;/urls;;/record;;/Cite;;/EndNote;(2) Thus,inMalaysia,there is a need in transforming the community pharmacy practice.However, the nonexistence of a dispensing separation policy between pharmacists and medical doctors in private community practices causes the transition has been slow. The role of community pharmacists to prescribe and dispense are diluting.This is because medical doctors in private community practices have had the right to prescribe and dispense,causing overlapping rolesof pharmacists and doctors. ADDIN EN.CITE ;EndNote;;Cite;;Author;Shafie;/Author;;Year;2012;/Year;;RecNum;5;/RecNum;;DisplayText;(3);/DisplayText;;record;;rec-number;5;/rec-number;;foreign-keys;;key app=”EN” db-id=”xa9rpz50xw52deeevf2pvta8erxf9ez5vsvf” timestamp=”1541498767″;5;/key;;/foreign-keys;;ref-type name=”Journal Article”;17;/ref-type;;contributors;;authors;;author;Shafie, Asrul Akmal;/author;;author;Hassali, Mohamed Azmi;/author;;author;Azhar, Saira;/author;;author;See, Ooi Guat;/author;;/authors;;/contributors;;titles;;title;Separation of prescribing and dispensing in Malaysia: a summary of arguments;/title;;secondary-title;Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy;/secondary-title;;/titles;;periodical;;full-title;Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy;/full-title;;/periodical;;pages;258-262;/pages;;volume;8;/volume;;number;3;/number;;dates;;year;2012;/year;;/dates;;isbn;1551-7411;/isbn;;urls;;/urls;;/record;;/Cite;;/EndNote;(3) Pharmacists also play an important role in helping people to get a better health .
The role of community pharmacist are varies as they interact a lot with patients . Community pharmacist usually have a big role in helping the public, checking their condition and making decision about which medicines are suitable for them. They will be taking part in dispensing medicine and giving patient ad vices and practical help on keeping health ADDIN EN.CITE ;EndNote;;Cite;;Author;Kokane;/Author;;Year;2016;/Year;;RecNum;2;/RecNum;;DisplayText;(1);/DisplayText;;record;;rec-number;2;/rec-number;;foreign-keys;;key app=”EN” db-id=”2vrf0xp08efax6efsatxpspf00z9ssvxtza9″ timestamp=”1541387380″;2;/key;;/foreign-keys;;ref-type name=”Journal Article”;17;/ref-type;;contributors;;authors;;author;Kokane, Jaiprakash V;/author;;author;Avhad, Pawan S;/author;;/authors;;/contributors;;titles;;title;Role of pharmacist in health care system;/title;;secondary-title;J Community Health Management;/secondary-title;;/titles;;periodical;;full-title;J Community Health Management;/full-title;;/periodical;;pages;37-40;/pages;;volume;3;/volume;;number;1;/number;;dates;;year;2016;/year;;/dates;;urls;;/urls;;/record;;/Cite;;/EndNote;(4) .
They will know the best medicines for patients as patients and pharmacist can easily talk about health conditions .Besides , pharmacist also offering health care services and screening for public .Today , clinical skills are applied by pharmacist in order to serve the community through vaccinations, emergency preparations and response, education about drugs , screenings services, medication therapy management (MTM), and monitoring patients. ADDIN EN.CITE ;EndNote;;Cite;;Author;Lai;/Author;;Year;2013;/Year;;RecNum;4;/RecNum;;DisplayText;(2);/DisplayText;;record;;rec-number;4;/rec-number;;foreign-keys;;key app=”EN” db-id=”2vrf0xp08efax6efsatxpspf00z9ssvxtza9″ timestamp=”1541389282″;4;/key;;/foreign-keys;;ref-type name=”Journal Article”;17;/ref-type;;contributors;;authors;;author;Lai, Elizabeth;/author;;author;Trac, Le;/author;;author;Lovett, Annesha;/author;;/authors;;/contributors;;titles;;title;Expanding the pharmacist’s role in public health</title><secondary-title>Universal Journal of Public Health</secondary-title></titles><periodical><full-title>Universal Journal of Public Health</full-title></periodical><pages>79-85</pages><volume>1</volume><number>3</number><dates><year>2013</year></dates><urls></urls></record></Cite></EndNote>(5). There are many services that are available in community pharmacy such as blood-glucose test , blood pressure test , height-weight and others . Pharmacist also do the dispensing of medicines .
Latterly , pharmacists have getting more involved in patient care and have widen their traditional role of preparing and dispensing medications to also influencing the prescribing process in certain country and delivery of pharmaceutical care. ADDIN EN.CITE <EndNote><Cite><Author>Hassali</Author><Year>2009</Year><RecNum>5</RecNum><DisplayText>(3)</DisplayText><record><rec-number>5</rec-number><foreign-keys><key app=”EN” db-id=”2vrf0xp08efax6efsatxpspf00z9ssvxtza9″ timestamp=”1541435481″>5</key></foreign-keys><ref-type name=”Journal Article”>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author>Hassali, MA</author><author>Awaisu, A</author><author>Shafie, AA</author><author>Saeed, MS</author></authors></contributors><titles><title>Professional training and roles of community pharmacists in Malaysia: views from general medical practitioners</title><secondary-title>Malaysian family physician: the official journal of the Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia</secondary-title></titles><periodical><full-title>Malaysian family physician: the official journal of the Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia</full-title></periodical><pages>71</pages><volume>4</volume><number>2-3</number><dates><year>2009</year></dates><urls></urls></record></Cite></EndNote>(2) . This dispensing system is to ensure that the medication or drug interaction will not harm patient’s health.There are also Malaysian National Medicine Policy lined by the Ministry of Health in Malaysia (MOH) . This is to ensure that community will be served with good quality medicines which is safe to be consumed . The policy implementation for five years hasshown many positive outcomes and changes such as establishing a comprehensive control system, reinforcement of the laws and regulations, contribute to a strong pharmaceutical industry as well as evolve an extensive pharmaceutical distribution network .
ADDIN EN.CITE ;EndNote;;Cite;;Year;2012;/Year;;RecNum;6;/RecNum;;DisplayText;(4);/DisplayText;;record;;rec-number;6;/rec-number;;foreign-keys;;key app=”EN” db-id=”2vrf0xp08efax6efsatxpspf00z9ssvxtza9″ timestamp=”1541465758″;6;/key;;/foreign-keys;;ref-type name=”Book”;6;/ref-type;;contributors;;/contributors;;titles;;title;MALAYSIAN NATIONAL MEDICINES POLICY;/title;;/titles;;edition;SECOND EDITION;/edition;;dates;;year;2012;/year;;/dates;;publisher;MINISTRY OF HEALTH;/publisher;;urls;;/urls;;/record;;/Cite;;/EndNote;(6) There are also pharmaceutical policy to ensure that pharmacy is well-managed and to discuss issues related to pharmacy such as rational use of medicines , pricing of medicines , prescription charge and others . By having these policies , patients satisfaction towards pharmacy services can be improved.
The main objective of our research is to study the perception of the general public in Bayan Lepas, Penang towards Health Care Services Provided in Community Pharmacies . To be more specific , we are about to explore the perception of general public in Bayan Lepas, Penang towards health care services provided in community pharmacies . We want to know about what people or patients think about services which the get at the community pharmacy .Besides , we need to explore the public perception of the role of community pharmacist in delivering heath care services . Community pharmacist play an important role in front line of health care system but not all people are actually clear of community pharmacist’s role beside of supplying medicine . Lastly , we are going to identify patient acceptance towards the implementation of dispensing separation . We wish to know whether they support this dispensing separation in Malaysia or disagree of dispensing separation.
ADDIN EN.REFLIST 1.Organisation(WHO) WH. The Role of the Pharmacist in the Health Care System. 1994.
2.Hassali M, Awaisu A, Shafie A, Saeed M. Professional training and roles of community pharmacists in Malaysia: views from general medical practitioners. Malaysian family physician: the official journal of the Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia. 2009;4(2-3):71.3.Shafie AA, Hassali MA, Azhar S, See OG.
Separation of prescribing and dispensing in Malaysia: a summary of arguments. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy. 2012;8(3):258-62. ADDIN EN.REFLIST 4.Kokane JV, Avhad PS.
Role of pharmacist in health care system. J Community Health Management. 2016;3(1):37-40.5.Lai E, Trac L, Lovett A. Expanding the pharmacist’s role in public health. Universal Journal of Public Health. 2013;1(3):79-85.
6.MALAYSIAN NATIONAL MEDICINES POLICY. SECOND EDITION ed: MINISTRY OF HEALTH; 2012.
