Drugstore Owners’ Opinions on Drugstore Standards of the Pharmacy Council : A Nation-wide Survey (ความคิดเห็นของเจ้าของร้านยาทั่วประเทศต่อมาตฐานร้านยาของสภาเภสัชกรรม)

This descriptive study was aimed at understanding drugstore owners’ opinion on Drugstorestandards of the Pharmacy Council. The study was divided into two phases. Phase 1 consisted of asurvey by post of drugstores throughout Thailand. Phase 2 was in-depth interviews with threepurposively selected drugstore owners who had not enrolled on Community Pharmacy Developmentand Accreditation Program. The data were collected between April and September 2004.Three thousand two hundred and forty drugstores participated in the survey. The majority (2,806;87.0%) of the respondents were the owner of the stores. The response rate of drugstore owners was24.85 percent. The survey indicated that the vast majority of drugstore owners found the standardsproblematic. Among them, Standard 2.2 Quality Process was rated the most difficult to comprehend,the least implemented at the moment, and the most unlikely that the stores will adopt in thefuture. This was followed by Standard 3.2 the Provision of Pharmacy Services, especially “informationon the medicine pouch” and “patient medication profile.” The following in-depth interviewsconfirmed these findings. The owners were reluctant to enroll on the program because of lack offinancial incentives and failure to understand the meaning of Standards. The most problematicitems were Standards 2.2 and 3.2. The results warrant urgent actions of the Pharmacy Council andthe Food and Drug Administration to promote and familiarize drugstore owners with these standards.In addition, positive reinforcement and supports need to be incorporated to persuade drugstoresto enroll on the program.Key words: Drugstore Standards, drugstore owner, opinion, Pharmacy Council, Community Pharmacy Development and Accreditation Program