Knowledge, attitude and practices of community pharmacists regarding COVID-19: A paper-based survey in Vietnam

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 16; no. 7; p. e0255420
• Main Authors: Nguyen, Huong Thi Thanh, Dinh, Dai Xuan, Nguyen, Van Minh
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Francisco Public Library of Science 29.07.2021; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Attitudes; Bayesian analysis; Beliefs, opinions and attitudes; Biology and Life Sciences; Collectors; Computer and Information Sciences; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 diagnostic tests; COVID-19 vaccines; Customers; Data collection; Disease prevention; Disease transmission; Drug stores; Education; Face; Knowledge; Masks; Mass media; Medicine; Medicine and Health Sciences; News media; Outlets; Pandemics; People and Places; Pharmacists; Pharmacoeconomics; Polls & surveys; Population; Practice; Protective equipment; Questionnaires; Regression models; Sanitizers; Services; Social networks; Social organization; Software; Surveys; Viral diseases; Viruses; Wear; Vietnam; China
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0255420

To survey the knowledge, attitude, and practices of Vietnamese pharmacists regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-sectional, paper-based study was conducted from June to August 2020. A validated questionnaire (Cronbach's alpha = 0.84) was used to interview 1,023 pharmacists in nine provinces of Vietnam. Analysis of covariance was employed to identify factors associated with the knowledge of pharmacists. The best model was chosen by using the Bayesian Model Averaging method in R software version 4.0.4. The mean knowledge score was 12.02 ± 1.64 (range: 6-15), which indicated that 93.4% of pharmacists had good knowledge of COVID-19. There was no difference in the average score between males and females (p > 0.05). The multivariate linear regression model revealed that the knowledge was significantly associated with pharmacists' age, education level, and residence (p < 0.001). About attitude and practices, pharmacists daily sought and updated information on the COVID-19 pandemic through mass media and the internet (social network and online newspapers). Nearly 48% of them conceded that they communicated with customers when at least one person did not wear a face mask at the time of the COVID-19 outbreak. At medicine outlets, many measures were applied to protect pharmacists and customers, such as equipping pharmacists with face masks and hand sanitizers (95.0%), using glass shields (83.0%), and maintaining at least one-meter distance between two people (85.2%). The pharmacists' knowledge of COVID-19 transmission, symptoms, and prevention was good. Many useful measures against the spread of this perilous virus were applied in medicine outlets. However, pharmacists should restrict forgetting to wear face masks in communication with medicine purchasers. The government and health agencies should have practical remedies to reduce the significant differences in the COVID-19 knowledge of pharmacists among provinces and education-level groups.