Exploring the Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Community Pharmacists towards Travel Medicine in Qatar: A Preliminary Quantitative Cross-Sectional Study

Background and aims: Community pharmacists play an important role in pre-travel preventive care and treating the conditions and diseases travelers may acquire during or post-travel. They provide travelers with medicines (preventive, prescription and over the counter), travel health advice, health supplies and vaccination based on their travel itinerary and individual health profile. The health of international and outbound Qatari travelers is an important area of practice that has not yet been studied among Qatari community pharmacists. This study aims to investigate Qatari community pharmacists’ level of knowledge, attitudes, and practice (KAP) towards travel medicine. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with ۱۱۷ community pharmacists using a self-administered standardized online quantitative questionnaire using Google Forms. The survey was conducted from October ۲۳rd - November ۵th, ۲۰۲۲.Results: The survey showed that a significant portion of community pharmacists (۵۶.۴%) are aware of travel medicine but lack practical knowledge regarding the practice of travel medicine. Furthermore, most of these pharmacists (۵۹%) recognized the significance of fundamental understanding of travel medicine and consider it their responsibility to provide travel health services. Yet only a small fraction of pharmacists provided travel-related medicines and health services to individuals visiting them. Conclusion: Although the participants displayed a positive attitude towards travel medicine, a noticeable knowledge gap existed. This knowledge gap may account for their attitude and the limited practice of travel medicine observed among them. Stakeholders need to provide training, resources, and a supportive regulatory environment for Qatari community pharmacists to provide travel health services.

Keywords:

community pharmacists , Qatar , Pharmacists , travel medicine and travel health