ABSTRACT

Introduction: Community pharmacy personnel are regarded to be the most accessible health care professionals with highest level of patient contact. This study aimed to determine the level of knowledge on type 2 diabetes mellitus and level of involvement in the provision of counselling services among community pharmacy personnel in Mwanza region.

Material and Methods: This was a cross section study conducted in Ilemela and Nyamagana Districts, Mwanza-Tanzania, involving 91 community pharmacies. Data were collected using self-administered pretested structured questionnaires. Knowledge was measured using scores ranging from 0 to 14, classified into. good knowledge (11-14), moderate knowledge (7-10) and poor knowledge (0-6). Practice was measured using score range (0-10), categorized into positive practice (7 – 10) and negative (0-6). Data were entered into Microsoft excel and then exported to STATA version 14 for further analysis.

Results: A total of 91 participants were interviewed in this study, among them 58 (63.7%) had moderate knowledge, 9 (9.9%) had good knowledge and the remaining had poor knowledge. Only 5 (5.5%) of the respondents had a positive practice on type 2 diabetes mellitus management. Pharmacists had high mean knowledge score i.e 9.09 (± 1.51) compared to other pharmacy personnel.

Conclusion: This study has shown that, majority of community pharmacy personnel had moderate knowledge and negative practice in counseling patients with type 2 diabetes. These findings highlight the importance of training to all pharmacy personnel which should include type 2 diabetes mellitus management and counseling in community pharmacies and promote their involvement in public health
activities.