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BULGARIAN PHARMACISTS’ ATTITUDES AND BARRIERS TOWARDS PHARMACEUTICAL CARE PROVISION FOR INCREASING IMMUNITY IN CHILDREN

ANNA MIHAYLOVA ¹*, BOZHIDARKA HADZHIEVA ², DANIEL ARGILASHKI ², PETYA KASNAKOVA ¹, ELINA GUEORGUIEVA ³, STANISLAV GUEORGUIEV ⁴, MARIA SEMERDJIEVA ¹, DESISLAVA BAKOVA ¹

¹Department of Health Care Management, Faculty of Public Health, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 15A Vasil Aprilov Street, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
²Medical College, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 15A Vasil Aprilov Street, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
³Department of Health Policy and Management, Faculty of Public Health, Medical University of Sofia, 15 Akademik Ivan Evstratiev Geshov Boulevard, 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria
⁴Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 15A Vasil Aprilov Street, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria

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A cross-sectional, anonymous questionnaire-based study was performed among 158 participants to assess the pharmacists’ attitudes and barriers towards providing pharmaceutical care for increasing immunity in children in Bulgarian community pharmacies. 93.7% of the respondents consider pharmaceutical care to be main priority and responsibility of the pharmacist when it comes to children. 97.5% agreed/strongly agreed with the statement that providing pharmaceutical care will improve health of children and the awareness of their parents. 84.8% of the respondents reported that they agreed/strongly agreed that preventing, detecting and solving problems related to children's health and drug therapy is an important responsibility of the pharmacist. Main barriers to the effective provision of pharmaceutical care for children according to 72.2% of pharmacists are the lack of additional training and lack of payment for the service in pharmacies. They are followed by the lack of time as the main barrier (70.8%). The lack of a separate place for consultation is an obstacle for 62% of the respondents and for 65.8%, a significant obstacle for effective consultation is the lack of access to medical documentation or electronic file of the child. Bulgarian pharmacists generally have positive attitudes towards the provision of pharmaceutical care for children and are available to advise their parents on the management of children's immunity. Despite the existence of some barriers, pharmacists demonstrate a high degree of responsibility in providing care and consulting on immuno-stimulation in children and are willing to increase knowledge and skills in this field through postgraduate training and specialization.