Volume 32, Issue 1 (3-2025)
RJMS 2025, 32(1): 1-11 |
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Research code: 99S16
Ethics code: IR.AJUMS.REC.1399.164
Clinical trials code: IR.AJUMS.REC.1399.164
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Soltani A, Aghaei Hashjin A, Sabzi A, Zahiri M, Tahmasebi-Ghorrabi A. Evaluation of Pharmacies based on the Criteria of Elderly-Friendly Pharmacies: A Cross-Sectional Study in Ahvaz. RJMS 2025; 32 (1) :1-11
URL: http://rjms.iums.ac.ir/article-1-8581-en.html
URL: http://rjms.iums.ac.ir/article-1-8581-en.html
PhD Student of health care management, School of Health Management & Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran , Tahmasbi.hcm@gmail.com
Abstract: (433 Views)
Background & Aims: The improvement of living conditions and increase in life expectancy has caused the emergence of the phenomenon of aging in societies. This phenomenon is considered one of the most important economic, social, and health challenges (1). Due to the increase in the elderly population and their need for medicine and more visits to pharmacies, it is necessary for pharmacies to consider the conditions of this population group so that this group of population can easily receive their medicines (4). Therefore, this study was conducted with the aim of evaluating the criteria of elderly-friendly pharmacies in Ahvaz pharmacies.
Methods: The present study was descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional in the period from December 2019 to February 2019 in Ahvaz city. The studied population was all pharmacies in the Golestan area of Ahvaz city. These pharmacies were identified through the system of the Deputy Food and Drug Administration of Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences. Finally, 12 pharmacies, including the pharmacy of Golestan Hospital in Ahvaz, were included in the study by census. The data in this study was collected using the checklist "Ability to transform pharmacies into elderly friendly pharmacies". The research tool in this study was the checklist "Ability to transform pharmacies into elderly friendly pharmacies" which was designed and psychometrically evaluated by Bastani et al (4). The researchers used the brainstorming method to determine the components of this checklist; In this way, 10 geriatric health experts and pharmacists were selected and after holding a brainstorming session, the components were extracted and finally the checklist included four physical areas (7 questions), care (16 questions), provision and procurement of pharmaceutical services (4 questions). And it was emotional (1 question). This checklist includes a total of 28 questions in a three-part Likert scale (no=1, to some extent=2, yes=3), two questions about the type of pharmacy (public or private) and the type of ownership (educational, assignment, property, rental, educational real estate, rental transfer, and real estate transfer). This study was approved by the ethics committee of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences with code IR.AJUMS.REC.1399.164. The scoring of the checklist was such that the pharmacies that scored 28 to 42 were at a poor level, 43 to 56 were average, 57 to 70 were good, and 71 to 84 were very good. The face validity of the checklist was confirmed by 10 experts in geriatric health and pharmacy. Also, the content validity check by the researchers showed that most of the questions for each of the criteria received 100 percent, and according to the researchers, the obtained percentages indicate a very high content validity of the tool. Also, the reliability of the tool by the researchers showed that the intra-group correlation coefficient for the four areas of the checklist in the test and retest was 0.85. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was also 0.9; which indicates the very good internal reliability of the tool. The reliability of this checklist in the present study was obtained using Cronbach's alpha of 0.87. Data analysis was done using the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney test using SPSS version 24 software.
Results: Most of the studied pharmacies were private (66.7 percent), leased (66.7 percent), and operating on a daily basis (75 percent). According to the findings, although the total score of public pharmacies was higher than private pharmacies based on the elderly-friendly criteria, there was no significant difference (P>0.05). The total score of all pharmacies (50.08±7.27) and most of the pharmacies (75%, 9 pharmacies) was at the average level. In the government pharmacy sector, all pharmacies (100%), and in the private pharmacy sector, 62.5% of the pharmacies were at the average level. Also, no pharmacies were very good at the level. The total score of all pharmacies (50.08 ± 7.27) was at an average level in terms of elderly-friendly criteria. In the public sector, all pharmacies, and in the private sector, 62.5% of pharmacies were at the average level. The emotional domain had the highest score and the care domain had the lowest score, except in government pharmacies. The overall score of public pharmacies was higher than private pharmacies based on the elderly-friendly criteria, but there was no significant difference (P>0.05). There was no significant relationship between type and ownership with the score of elderly-friendly pharmacies (P>0.05). According to the findings and using t-test and one-way variance (ANOVA) tests, no significant difference was observed between the average score of elderly-friendly pharmacy areas with the type of pharmacy and type of ownership (P>0.05). There was a significant difference between the average score of the care area and the type of activity (P=0.03), while no significant difference was observed in other areas with the type of activity (P>0.05).
Conclusion: Elderly-friendly hospitals and pharmacies provide various medical and health services according to the conditions and limitations of the elderly in the direction of an elderly-friendly city in all dimensions. The novelty of the study topic, the use of a special and practical tool for measuring elderly-friendly pharmacies was one of the strengths of this study. For the weak points of this study, it can be mentioned that it was conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic, which was solved by following up the questionnaire to collect data. It is suggested that for future studies, researchers should examine all the pharmacies in the country and along with measuring the state of the pharmacies, the solutions and challenges facing the transformation of pharmacies into elderly-friendly pharmacies should also be examined. The total score of all pharmacies (7/27) 50.08 ±) was at an average level in terms of elderly-friendly criteria. In the public sector, all pharmacies, and in the private sector, 62.5% of pharmacies were at the average level. The emotional domain had the highest score and the care domain had the lowest score, except in government pharmacies. The overall score of public pharmacies was higher than private pharmacies based on the elderly-friendly criteria, but there was no significant difference (P>0.05). There was no significant relationship between the type and ownership of pharmacies and the score of elderly-friendly pharmacies (P>0.05). Considering the increase of elderly people in society, the preparation of pharmacies to provide services to the elderly will be a challenging issue in the future. By determining correct and appropriate policies for the movement of pharmacies towards elderly-friendly pharmacies, the problems of the elderly in receiving healthcare services can be reduced in the future.
Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
Public Health
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