Perception of community pharmacists towards patient counseling and continuing pharmacy education program in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor states of Malaysia

Malaysia is one of the front-runners amongst developing countries, whereby clinical practice and pharmaceutical care is dominating the picture of professional pharmacy practice. The most accessible health professionals to the general public worldwide are known to be the community pharmacists. A positive pharmacist perception, behavior and attitude are pivotal towards the implementation of pharmaceutical care. Convenience sampling was done. The sample size was determined using RAOSOFT calculator by using 95% confidence level with 0.05 statistical significance. Study information sheet was shown and concern (either verbal or written) was obtained prior to the study. The community pharmacies’ lists were obtained from Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society for sample selection. A total of 220 community pharmacists completed the questionnaire. There were male (48%) and female (52%) respondents, and most of the pharmacists were Chinese (98%). Almost half of the respondents were in the age group of 25 to 35 years old (49%) and experiences for most of them in community practice were above 10 years (53%). Many of the respondents responded their working hour per day was 8-10 hours  Overall, almost all the community pharmacists had positive perception towards patient counseling and continuing education program in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor states of Malaysia. Further research is needed to evaluate perception of community pharmacists in different states of Malaysia and explore more on continuing education program in Malaysia.