Pharmaceutical Care Activities in Nigeria from 1970 to 2018: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Background: Over the past four to five decades many studies have revealed the high prevalence of experimental and non-experimental studies in developed countries. However, the state of Pharmaceutical care PC studies remains largely unknown in Nigeria. Pharmaceutical care practice has undergone developmental changes over the years in different countries with series of evidence based studies. However, in Nigeria, the quality and extent of the practice and studies remain largely unknown. Over the past four to five decades many studies have revealed the high prevalence of experimental and non-experimental studies in developed countries. However, the state of pharmaceutical care (PC) studies remains largely unknown in Nigeria. Objectives: This study described pharmaceutical care studies in Nigeria and documented information for interventions, planning and policy. Methods: The study utilized narrative review to describe the state of PC studies in Nigeria. The study was synthesized from retrieved literatures obtained from the search of computerized data bases with search term used individually, in series and using truncation where necessary. Only studies carried out in Nigeria and published in English Language from January 1970 to September, 2018 were used. Data obtained were matched with two bench marks for assessment of study standards and hierarchy of clinical studies. Data was summarized using descriptive statistics of frequency and percentage. The study lasted from March to October 2018. Results: Overall, 38 articles were selected from a total of 2124 which gave rise to 1.8% selection of eligible articles. All the articles fell below the 3rd position on the 8points Oxford Center for Evidence- Based Medicine Scale (OCEMS).The south west had the highest distribution of PC studies 18.0 (47.4%), followed by south east 10.0 (26.3%) and north central 5.0 (13.2%). Studies hierarchy fell within the last three stages of 6 points Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network Scale (SIGNS) for hierarchy of study types. Conclusion: PC activities in Nigeria felled within the lower half of two standard benchmarks for hierarchy of study types. Most of the studies were predominantly carried out in the western and eastern part of Nigeria. Randomized Control Trials (RCTs), narrative reviews, systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs of PC studies were still not available in the country.