Professional knowledge of pharmacists in providing pharmaceutical care to patients with diagnosed cephalgias

Purpose: assess the level of knowledge of pharmacists in the field of pharmacotherapy of cephalgias in providing pharmaceutical care to patients with diagnosed cephalgias. Material and methods. A pharmacoepidemiological study was conducted based on a survey of 153 pharmacists and pharmacists (Saratov) using a questionnaire that includes the passport part (socio-demographic characteristics), questions about professional status, as well as questions with a detailed answer form on the topic of the study. Results. In the case of migraine, the overwhelming majority of experts' recommendations were rational (triptans, analgesics). Most of the specialists (81.7%) were unable to give any recommendations for the treatment of drug-induced headache, the remaining recommendations (18.3%) were partially correct. 79.7% of respondents could not recommend anything in the case of cluster headache, rational recommendations were given by 8.5% (oxygen, triptans). More than half of the recommendations in the case oftrigeminal neuralgia were rational (antiepileptic drugs were named). Conclusion. The low level of knowledge about the principles of treatment of certain types of headache indicates the need to improve the professional knowledge of pharmacists in this area: training of specialists and professional development will improve the quality of the pharmaceutical care.