Survey of Hospital Pharmacist Activities in Thailand

Abstract

The objective of research was to study the activities undertaken by pharmacists in public and private hospitals in Thailand using data on health facilities in 2013. Data were collected by using a set of questionnaire mailed to pharmacists in 391 hospitals which were selected through stratified random sampling based on the number of beds and the category of the hospitals as public or private facilities in the 2013 rigistry. Data collection tool was a questionnaire survey form comprising of 2 parts: (1) general information and (2) activities conducted by pharmacists which were indicated by the pay for performance (P4P). The forms were sent to proposed respondents by postal mail. There were responses from 344 hospitals (88.0 percent of respondents). It was found that the number of activities conducted by pharmacists increase gradially in proportional to the size of hospital, i.e. primary hospitals had minimum pharmacist’s activities because of no inpatient department; and tertiary hospitals had highest pharmacist’s activities. In addition to the activity items listed in the survey form, there were some outstanding activities of the pharmacists which should be considered for the study on workload of hospital pharmacists. These included hospital quality management activity in private hospitals (6.7%), consumer protection activity in public hospitals (45.9%), and primary care pharmacy activity (35.6%). In conclusion, quantity of hospital pharmacist activities depend on proficiency and level of hospitals. The results could be used to calculate the size of hospital pharmacist workforce in the future.