Willingness to Practice Basic First Aid Care among Community Pharmacists in Lagos Nigeria

Background: The growing incidence of terrorism and/or disasters across the world makes it important that all healthcare professionals get empowered with the skills to offer first aid to selfor others when the need arises. Objectives: The objectives of this study were to assess the knowledge and willingness to practice basic life saving first aid care (FAC) among community pharmacists in a metropolitan city; South West Nigeria Methods: This study was conducted with the aid of structured interview and questionnaires among registered community pharmacists in two Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Lagos State and thereports obtained were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. Results: The feedback showed that almost all (136; 96.1) of the respondents could correctly define first aid care and also gave the correct aim of the provision of first aid care. Majority 126 (88.1) had been involved in the practice of life saving first aid care though only very few (13; 9.1) attended arecent training on FAC. However; their practice of FAC was affected by lack of adequate FA skills; the inability of most clients to pay for their bills; lack of cooperation from other members of the healthteam regarding referral of FAC cases in Lagos state; and lack of standardized skills acquisition protocols for the training of community pharmacists in the provision of FA. Conclusion: The community pharmacists in the two study areas demonstrated good knowledge offirst aid care but few applied this knowledge in their daily practice. The pharmacists indicated willingness to practice first aid effectively if properly trained. There is a need to sensitize all stakeholders to ensure that good quality first aid care services are made available in the community pharmacies

Potentials of Community Pharmacists to Improve Maternal; Newborn and Child Health

Background: With the high level of pregnancy; childbirth related and under-five deaths in Nigeria; achieving optimal maternal and child health has become the responsibility of all health personnel in a task sharing approach at all levels of care. Objectives: We assessed baseline status of community pharmacists' involvement in Maternal; Newbornand Child Health [MNCH]; described training intervention for community pharmacists on MNCH and assessed its impact on maternal and child health.Methods: Semi-experimental design; using multi-stage stratified sampling method was conducted in Abuja; Kwara; Abia and Edo States of Nigeria from June - September; 2011. Pre-tested questionnaires wereused to generate data on baseline activities of pharmacists. Two of the States were selected for trainingintervention while the remaining two served as control. A post-training MNCH activity level of the study and control settings was compared based on frequency of occurrence and Chi-Square analysis with the aidof Epi Info package.Results: Over 15 of community pharmacists reported seeing 5-10 women and 10-20 children daily. Agap in MNCH knowledge was observed. The training intervention improved MNCH knowledge in the study States (P 0.05); with post-training assessment showing a 40 average increase in the number of mothers and under-five caregivers counselled on key MNCH interventions.Conclusion: The baseline status of the community pharmacists' participation in MNCH revealed aconsiderable client load of pregnant and nursing mothers with under 5 years children in contact with the community pharmacists daily. Community pharmacists in MNCH interventions indicated a knowledge gap.The training intervention showed knowledge transfer and improved community pharmacists' position as promoters; facilitators and implementers of maternal; newborn and child health in Nigeria