Perceptions of the role of pharmacy assistants in providing patient counselling in community pharmacies in Indonesia

Introduction
Patient counselling is a part of pharmaceutical services, where there is interaction between pharmacy workers with patients to provide drug information to improve patient safety. Pharmacy assistants are on the frontline of community pharmaceutical services in Indonesia, but regulations do not give them the authority to provide patient counselling. Aim of the research: This study explored pharmacy workers’ perceptions about the role of pharmacy assistants to provide patient counselling within the community.

Material and methods
This was an exploratory qualitative study with 17 participants, comprising 9 pharmacists and 8 pharmacy assistants recruited through purposive sampling. Data were collected from May to June 2020. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect qualitative data on pharmacy workers’ perceptions regarding patient counselling provided by pharmacy assistants. Data analysis was performed thematically.

Results
This is the first study to date to explore the perceptions of pharmacy workers regarding the role of patient counselling by pharmacy assistants. Pharmacy workers believed that modified patient counselling could be conducted by pharmacy assistants, taking into account the following 6 aspects: the use of the term counselling, content and context, duration of interactions with patients, competency of service providers, infrastructure, and training needs.

Conclusions
To be accepted by stakeholders, patient counselling provided by pharmacy assistants should be modified to consider aspects of competence and supportive infrastructure.