Abstract

Childhood diarrhea is a prevalent disease in Indonesia. Therefore, pharmacists are required to possess extensive knowledge of the management and prevention of childhood diarrhea in order to provide suitable advice to patients. To connect with this situation, this study aimed to determine the level of pharmacists’ knowledge regarding the management of childhood diarrhea therapy and its prevention. To achieve this aim, a descriptive observational study was employed. The sample in this study were pharmacists in pharmacies in the greater Malang area, Indonesia, who were selected by a convenience sampling technique. The instrument used in this study was a questionnaire on pharmacists’ knowledge of managing and preventing childhood diarrhea. The collected data were analyzed descriptively. A total of 158 pharmacists participated in this study. Most respondents were female (84.81%) and aged between 26 and 35 (60.76%). Most respondents had been practicing in pharmacies for 1–5 years (39.87%), and the average weekly pharmacist practice hours were 25–35 (41.77%). Most respondents had poor knowledge (68.35%) of pediatric therapy management and prevention. Further research is needed to identify pharmacists’ needs to optimize pharmacists’ knowledge regarding the therapeutic management and prevention of diarrhea diseases in children.

Key words: knowledge level, pharmacists, pediatric diarrhea treatment, pediatric diarrhea prevention, pharmacy