A cross‑sectional survey on community pharmacists readiness to fight COVID‑19 in a developing country: knowledge, attitude, and practice in Lebanon

Abstract

Background

Lebanon, a developing Middle Eastern country, was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic that occurred amid a severe national economic crisis. Community pharmacists are responsible for dispensing appropriate medications and products in addition to counseling, informing and educating the public, and promoting disease prevention and infection control.

Objective

This study aimed to assess community pharmacists’ knowledge, attitude, and practice towards the COVID-19 pandemic and evaluate behavior changes and safety measures.

Methods

An anonymous and standardized online questionnaire in English was disseminated via social media platforms to Lebanese community pharmacists. The questionnaire consisted of 95 items designed as Likert-scales and multiple-choice questions divided into four different sections: socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge-based, attitude-based, and pharmacy practice questions. Descriptive statistical analysis was used to summarize the demographic characteristics, and indices were created for knowledge, attitude, and practice by computing the correct answers for each section.

Results

A total of 310 questionnaires were completed. Around 61% have expressed their fear of getting infected with COVID-19 due to occupational exposure. The respondents were able to answer 80–90% of the knowledge-based questions of the survey. A more careful/anxious attitude, but not knowledge, was associated with overall better practice (p = 0.03). Also, respondents stated that they are dispensing protective equipment items such as masks (87%), gloves (60%), and sanitizers (77%) in small quantities due to limited availability.

Conclusion

Our findings revealed an adequate level of knowledge and good practice towards COVID-19 among Lebanese community pharmacists. Their fears of contracting the virus and compromising the safety of those around them are justified. However, their supply of protective equipment is limited.

Keywords:

• COVID-19
• Knowledge
• Attitude
• Practice
• Protective measures
• Patient service
• Community pharmacy

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s40545-021-00327-6.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the pharmacists for accepting to be part of this study.

Authors’ contributions

PS conceived and designed the study. RMZ, AD, GEK, HH, and MA performed the data collection and entry. RMZ, AD, and GEK wrote the manuscript. PS and SH were involved in data interpretation and statistical analysis. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding

None.

Availability of data and materials

There is no public access to all data generated or analyzed during this study to preserve the privacy of participants. The dataset that supports the conclusions is available upon request to the corresponding author..

Declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The Ethics and Research Committee of the Psychiatric Hospital of the Cross approved the study proposal and related survey (HPC-010-2020). All respondents were aware of the purpose of the study and confirmed their willingness to participate voluntarily by answering a yes–no question at the beginning of the survey. When consent was received, the participant was then directed to complete the online self-report questionnaire. All data were collected anonymously and handled confidentially.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors disclose no conflicts of interest.

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