Community Pharmacists' Responses to Acute Gastroenteritis

Gastroenteritis (GE) is a life-threatening disease caused by several infectious pathogens. The main goal of this study is to evaluate community pharmacists’ response to acute GE cases in terms of counseling, dispensing, and labeling. The study employed a novel approach using simulated patients (SP) to evaluate how community pharmacists responded to GE cases. A population sampling technique involved selecting pharmacies within Baghdad, Iraq, from March to July 2024. The SP simulated the symptoms of acute diarrhea and asked the pharmacist to manage his condition, then recorded all interactions with the pharmacists using a validated data collection method. The differences between variables were found through Chi-square tests; any alpha level less than 0.05 was considered significant. The study found variations in pharmacists’ responses about counseling, dispensing, and labeling across demographic characteristics. Regarding counseling practice, almost all males outperformed females in this practice. Also, those working part-time or from the Rusafah region performed better for counseling services than their counterparts. The most common drugs dispensed included metronidazole, loperamide, domperidone, ceftriaxone, ondansetron, metoclopramide, paracetamol, and hyoscine butyl bromide. Regarding labeling, female pharmacists and those working in the Rusafah region and with part-time schedules were more proactive in writing the required medicine information on the label sheet than their counterparts.  Further, variations in labeling practices were also found across different demographic characteristics. Targeted interventions are needed to enhance patient care and medication education in community pharmacy settings.