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Dispensing practice in the community pharmacies in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

  • Research Article
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Abstract

Background Good Pharmacy Practice is the process of supplying the accurate drug to the right patient for an adequate period of time with the lowest cost to the patient and the community. Pharmacist have a crucial role in promoting good pharmacy practice. Objective To assess the dispensing practice of the community pharmacists in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) regarding RDU and to evaluate the quality of dispensing. Setting Community pharmacies in TRNC. Method The study consists of two parts: a face to face interview and a simulated patient visit to these pharmacies. Main outcomes measure Rationality indicators (average dispensing time, stock availability and adequate labelling), presence of the pharmacist on the premises, dispenser characteristics, prescription checking, and the provided patient information. Results The majority of the prescriptions (73.3%) were dispensed by the pharmacists. None of the pharmacy employees had pharmacy based training. Eighty nine percent of the pharmacists believed that their employees could very well dispense drugs on their own. The declared average dispensing time for a prescription of a single drug was 233 s while the measured one was 149 s. Few dispensers in reality warned the patient about potential interactions. The difference between the average dispensing scores of the pharmacists and the non-pharmacist dispensers was not significant. Conclusions The dispensing practice in the community pharmacies in the Turkish part of Cyprus seems inadequate in terms of GPP.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Prof. Dr. Alper Iskit for preparing the prescriptions. Dr. Evren Hıncal and Dr. Nil Resatoglu had the valuable contribution in the statistical analysis. We also would like to thank Near East University Faculty of Pharmacy second and third classes students for conducting the face to face interview and playing the simulated patients and Prof. Huseyin Gokcekus for transportation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Near East University, Nicosia, Northern Cyprus

    Laika Gokcekus, Hale Zerrin Toklu, Rumeysa Demirdamar & Bulent Gumusel

  2. Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, University of Bath, Bath, UK

    Laika Gokcekus

  3. Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Marmara University, 34668, Haydarpasa-Istanbul, Turkey

    Hale Zerrin Toklu

  4. Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Hacettepe University, 06100, Sıhhiye-Ankara, Turkey

    Bulent Gumusel

Authors
  1. Laika Gokcekus
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  2. Hale Zerrin Toklu
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  3. Rumeysa Demirdamar
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  4. Bulent Gumusel
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Hale Zerrin Toklu or Bulent Gumusel.

Appendices

Appendix 1: The questionnaire

Appendix 2: Checklist for the simulated case scenario

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Gokcekus, L., Toklu, H.Z., Demirdamar, R. et al. Dispensing practice in the community pharmacies in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Int J Clin Pharm 34, 312–324 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-011-9605-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-011-9605-z

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