Exploring community pharmacy professionals’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward medication therapy management in Southwest Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Medication therapy management (MTM) is a pharmacist-led patient-centered service that aims to optimize drug therapy and enhance patient outcomes. Despite its documented benefits, pharmacists' awareness and implementation of MTM remain limited, particularly in low-resource settings. This study aimed to assess community pharmacy professionals' knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding MTM. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 114 community pharmacy professionals. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. Of the distributed questionaries, 105 were completed. Most respondents were male (81.9%), pharmacy technicians (58.1%), aged between 20 and 30 years (63.8%). While 62.9% demonstrated high MTM knowledge, only 45.7% had favorable attitudes, and 41.9% reported good practice. Fifty-one (48.6%) viewed MTM as valuable and, 78.1% identified its primary role in improving patients' adherence and disease state management. The most common MTM service was verbal education (62.9%). Age was significantly associated with knowledge (p = 0.027); gender (p = 0.004) and qualification (p = 0.035) with attitude; and experience (p = 0.006) with practice. In conclusion, although most participants demonstrated a good level of knowledge, only a small percentage exhibited a positive attitude toward and consistent practice of MTM. Therefore, targeted MTM training programs and continuous professional development initiatives are recommended to improve the attitudes and skills of pharmacy professionals, ensure effective MTM integration in community pharmacies, and enhance patient care, particularly in resource-limited settings.