Assessment of the role and participation of pharmacists in the provision of palliative care

The aim of the study was to investigate the position of pharmacists regarding their place and role in providing palliative care to patients with serious or terminal illnesses. Materials and methods. The data from a survey of pharmacists from various pharmacies conducted through an online survey in Google Forms were used for the analysis. The results were processed using sociological, systematic and analytical, mathematical and statistical methods and the method of comparative analysis. A total of 51 questionnaires were processed. Results. The analysis showed that only 8.1 % of pharmacists regularly, and 24.3 % occasionally, face requests for advice on palliative care. At the same time, 70.3 % of respondents admitted that they have insufficient awareness of palliative care. There are certain difficulties: lack of protocols for palliative care, insufficient awareness of communication with palliative patients and their families, limited medical care. Only 2.7 % of respondents received information on this topic during specialized trainings. When counseling palliative care patients, 78.4 % of employees provided recommendations on the dosage and regimen of medications. Their readiness to work with palliative care patients was assessed as average by 51.4 % of the survey participants. It was found that 86.5 % of respondents consider the role of a pharmacist to be additional but important in the palliative care system, while legally insufficiently defined. Conclusions. Pharmacists recognize their role in palliative care as important, but legally insufficiently defined. The main problems include the lack of protocols, limited medication support, and imperfect preparation for communication with patients and their families. Improving the legislative regulation of the role of pharmacists, organizing specialized training programs, expanding the use of telemedicine and telepharmacy, and improving the supply of medicines can significantly increase the effectiveness of pharmacists in palliative care.