Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Community Pharmacists on Medication Safety during Pregnancy: A Cross-sectional Study

Background: Safe medication use during pregnancy requires a great understanding of the benefits and risks associated upon use of the drug. Community Pharmacists (CPs) are the most accessible health care professionals for the pregnant women to get safety information about drugs. Evaluation of Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) of community pharmacists on medication safety during pregnancy. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among community pharmacists of various community pharmacies located in Anantapur district. A total of 403 CPs were enrolled and subjected for interview by using pre-validated self-administered KAP questionnaire on medication safety during pregnancy. Descriptive statistics were used to represent the socio-demographic characteristics and KAP levels. Chi-square test was used to associate demographic profile with KAP levels. Results: A total of 403 community Pharmacists (CPs) were enrolled in the study. Majority of the pharmacists are males (345; 85.6%), residing in semi-urban area (184; 45.6%), possess diploma in pharmacy (232; 57.5%) and having more than 10 years' of experience. Among 403 CPs, only 21 (5.2%) had good knowledge, 380 (94.2%) had positive attitude and 119 (29.5%) have safe practice towards medication safety during pregnancy. Respondent's age, qualification and experience were significantly associated with good knowledge and safe practices. Conclusion: Community pharmacists are having a positive attitude and some knowledge about safe medication use in pregnant women. Still, there is a wide gap in knowledge levels and practices of CPs towards safe medication use in pregnant women. This gap can be fulfilled by providing focused educational intervention to all CPs.