HIV-INFECTION AND AIDS - ATTITUDES AND KNOWLEDGE OF ARIZONA PHARMACISTS

OBJECTIVE: To assess Arizona pharmacists' attitudes and knowledge rega rding HIV infection and AIDS. METHODS: Mailing of a 7-page survey, whi ch included demographic and attitudinal items, as well as preparedness , comfort, and knowledge scales. SETTING: Randomly selected pharmacist s registered and residing in Arizona. PARTICIPANTS: Of the 479 pharmac ists surveyed, 41 were removed from the sample because they had moved with no forwarding address, were retired or not practicing, or had die d. The response rate was 46% for the remaining 438 pharmacists. A fina l sample size of 199 was obtained. RESULTS: The respondents had a high level of preparedness and comfort in addition to positive attitudes. Overall, their knowledge level was low. Inpatient pharmacists had a hi gher level of therapeutic knowledge (p < 0.0001) and were more willing to work with a person infected with HIV than were outpatient pharmaci sts (p = 0.05). Pharmacists who had attended at least 1 HIV/AIDS-relat ed continuing education (CE) program had higher levels of preparedness (p < 0.0001), comfort (p = 0.01), and knowledge (p < 0.0001) than tho se who had not. The majority of respondents believed that an HIV/AIDS CE program should be mandatory. CONCLUSIONS: Although Arizona pharmaci sts feel prepared, are comfortable, and have positive attitudes regard ing patients with HIV/AIDS, their level of knowledge is low. The resul ts of this study may be used by CE providers to design programs to mee t the educational needs of pharmacists.