Quality Assurance Auditing of Community Pharmacies Across the State of Kerala

Quality standards are an essential component of community pharmacies, as they determine the extent of professionalism and the quality of services provided by the pharmacist to the patients. The objective of the study was to conduct a quality assurance auditing of community pharmacies across the state of Kerala. The study design was a descriptive cross-sectional study and the study duration was 10 months. The study was conducted in 112 community pharmacies spread across every district in the state of Kerala. The investigator made a personal visit to these community pharmacies and the basic background and the objective of the study was explained to the Pharmacist/ In-charge of the respective pharmacy. Ascoring worksheet for carrying out quality assurance auditing of community pharmacies in the state of Kerala was developed, that was based on the GPP guidelines developed by IPA in March 2002. It was found from the study that 4 (3.57), 33 (29%), 66 (59%) and 9 (8%) community pharmacies obtained A, B, C and D grades respectively. The study highlights that the adherence of community pharmacies in Kerala to the good pharmacy practice guidelines were quite poor. The time has come to necessitate immediate changes to the system of community pharmacy practice by the concerned regulatory authorities and in the attitude of pharmacist with respect to his professional duties and ethics.