Abstract
Background: Currently research into the attitudes of South African chiropractors towards limited prescription-based drugs is lacking. There has not been a single survey or questionnaire of this kind performed to ascertain the attitudes of South African chiropractors towards limited drug prescription rights. Aim: The primary aim of the current study was to ascertain the attitudes of South African chiropractic practitioners towards the inclusion of drug prescription rights in their scope of practice. Method: This was a quantitative study utilizing a self-administration online English questionnaire by which the registered chiropractors accessed via email through a link. The questionnaire was sent out as a pilot prior to final distribution. In South Africa there has not been a survey regarding attitudes towards limited prescription rights, therefore the researcher based the questionnaire on a survey conducted in Ontario, Canada by Emary and Stuber (2015). The Ontario survey questionnaire was amended to suit the South African framework. Membership databases of the Allied Health Professionals Council (AHPCSA) as well as the Chiropractic Association of South Africa (CASA) were utilised for the distribution of the survey. Procedure: An email including the information letter was sent via AHPCSA and CASA to all registered members. If the chiropractor was interested in taking part in the survey, he/she was instructed to click on the link provided and was re-directed to the Question pro-hosted website to answer the survey anonymously. Results: Data was collected to determine South African chiropractors’ attitudes towards drug prescription rights, frequency of over-the-counter drug recommendations in chiropractic practice and South African chiropractors’ current knowledge of drug prescription. The response rate for this study was 14.4% (n=124) of qualified chiropractors in South Africa. vii This study revealed that 84% (n=105) of the respondents were in favour of limited prescriptive authority for over-the-counter (OTC) drugs however, 79.6% (n=98) of the respondents did not agree to full prescriptions rights for non-musculoskeletal drugs. The study revealed that 74% (n=85) of the respondents agreed that OTC drugs does speed up the recovery of their patients and 86.1% (n=105) of the respondents believed that OTC drugs relieved the pain of their patients. It was important that with prescriptive authority comes responsibility and 82.3% (n=102) of the respondents agreed on counselling patients on the over-use and over-reliance of certain medication. Under half of the respondents rarely recommend OTC and prescription-based analgesics, muscle relaxants and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to their acute patients and chronic patients. The results further showed that 68.8% (n=86) of the respondents were confident with their knowledge of musculoskeletal drugs but 82.4% were less confident in prescribing non-musculoskeletal drugs. Most importantly, 91.2% (n=112) of the respondents agreed on further education and training in pharmacology for those practitioners seeking limited prescriptive authority. Conclusion: The majority of South African chiropractor respondents indicated an interest in expanding their scope of practice to include limited prescription rights. These results were consistent with that of recent studies done worldwide. This could indicate a shift in the attitudes of chiropractors towards drug prescription rights within the profession. Further surveys or qualitative studies on this subject are recommended to inform the dialogue amongst academia and chiropractic authorities to consider the expansion of the professions scope of practice.
M.Tech. (Chiropractic)