Pharmacists’ Perception About Their Roles in Tuberculosis Control Program in Medan, Indonesia

Abstract

Objective: To assess the pharmacists’ perception about their roles in tuberculosis (TB) control program in Medan, Indonesia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the pharmacists’ perception about their roles in TB control program in Medan, Indonesia using a validated questionnaire. The pharmacists involved in this study (n=117) were asked to choose answering yes, no or do not know for their perception on their roles in TB control program. The collected data consisted of demographics (gender, age, place of practice, and working experience) and the pharmacists’ perception on their roles in TB control program were organized and analyzed by applying descriptive and Chi-square analyses using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, version 19, Chicago, IL, USA) (p<0.05 was considered significant). Results: Mean age of the participants was 38.6±11.7 (years). Most of them (76.1%) were female. Distribution of the participants by place of practice: Pharmacy, 78.6%; hospital, 20.5%. Most of them (63.2%) have heard about directly observed treatment short-course program. More than 90% of them realized that they could play their roles as providers, managers of anti-TB drugs, drug informants, ensurers for adherence to the TB treatment, educators for patients and publics on TB and its treatment. Only 26.5% of them knew that they could also play their role as inventors of early suspected TB in the community. Conclusion: The study proved that the pharmacists’ roles could be utilized and enhanced to optimize TB control programs in Indonesia.