Assessment of case management of dyspepsia at community pharmacies in two cities of Pakistan

This study aimed to document the management of dyspepsia by community pharmacies intwo major cities of Pakistan; Islamabad (national capital) and Rawalpindi (twin city).A comparative, cross-sectional study was designed to document the management of dys-pepsia including history taking and provision of advice at 238 randomly selected pharma-cies through simulated patient visits in twin cities of Pakistan. Kruskal-Wallis test and Man-Whitney test (p≤0.05) were used to compare management of dyspepsia by the dispensersworking at community pharmacies handled by different provider types in the two cities.The simulated patients were dealt by a pharmacy salesperson in 75.6% (n= 180) of visits.Medication was dispensed in 73.5% (n= 175) of the visits, while in 10.9% (n= 26) of thecases the customer was referred directly to a physician. No significant difference at (p≤0.05) was observed among history taking and advice provision in treatment of dyspepsia bythe dispensers working at community pharmacies handled by different provider types andsituated at different settings in the two cities.This study highlighted poor case management and dispensing practices of dyspepsia atcommunity pharmacies in Pakistan. Absence of qualified people, lack of provision of adviceand lack of professionalism by the dispensers are the main reasons for the poor quality ofservices at community pharmacies