BACKGROUND The growing number of people living with life-limiting illness is a global health concern. This study therefore aimed to explore the involvement of pharmacists in selected tertiary hospitals in Nigeria in palliative care (PC). It also sought to evaluate their knowledge and attitude to PC as well as factors that hinder pharmacists' participation in PC. METHOD Questionnaire-guided survey among pharmacists working in three-tertiary hospitals in southwestern Nigeria. The self-administered questionnaire comprised 18-item general knowledge questions related to PC, attitude statements with 5-point Likert-scale options and question-items that clarify extent of involvement in PC and barriers to participation. Overall score by pharmacists in the knowledge and attitude domains developed for the purpose of this study was assigned into binary categories of "adequate" and "inadequate" knowledge (score > 75% versus≤75%), as well as "positive" and "negative" attitude (ranked score > 75% versus≤75%), respectively. Descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney-U and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for analysis at p < 0.05. RESULTS All the 110 pharmacists enrolled responded to the questionnaire, given a response rate of 100%. Overall, our study showed that 23(21.1%) had adequate general knowledge in PC, while 14(12.8%) demonstrated positive attitude, with 45(41.3%) who enjoyed working in PC. Counselling on therapy adherence (100;90.9%) was the most frequently engaged activity by pharmacists; attending clinical meetings to advise health team members (45;40.9%) and giving educational sessions (47;42.7%) were largely cited as occasionally performed duties, while patient home visit was mostly cited (60;54.5%) as a duty not done at all. Pharmacists' unawareness of their need in PC (86;79.6%) was a major factor hindering participation, while pharmacists with PC training significantly felt more relaxed around people receiving PC compared to those without training (p = 0.003). CONCLUSION Hospital pharmacists in selected tertiary care institutions demonstrate inadequate knowledge, as well as negative attitude towards PC. Also, extent of involvement in core PC service is generally low, with pharmacists' unawareness of their need in PC constituting a major barrier. Thus, a need for inclusion of PC concept into pharmacy education curriculum, while mandatory professional development programme for pharmacists should also incorporate aspects detailing fundamental principles of PC, in order to bridge the knowledge and practice gaps.

中文翻译：

---

尼日利亚西南部某些三级医院的药剂师知识，态度和对姑息治疗的参与。

背景技术生活受到限制生命的疾病的人数的增加是全球健康关注的问题。因此，本研究旨在探讨药剂师在尼日利亚部分三级医院参与姑息治疗（PC）的情况。它还试图评估他们对PC的知识和态度，以及阻碍药剂师参与PC的因素。方法对在尼日利亚西南部三级三级医院工作的药剂师进行问卷调查。自我管理的问卷包括18项与PC有关的常识性问题，带有5点Likert量表选项的态度陈述以及阐明了参与PC程度和参与障碍的问题项。为进行本研究而开发的药剂师在知识和态度方面的总分分为“充分”和“不足”知识的二类类别（得分> 75％vs≤75％），以及“阳性”和“否定态度”（排名得分分别大于75％和≤75％）。描述性统计学，Mann-Whitney-U和Kruskal-Wallis检验用于p <0.05的分析。结果参加调查的所有110名药剂师均对问卷进行了答复，答复率为100％。总体而言，我们的研究表明，有23（21.1％）人具有足够的PC一般知识，而14（12.8％）人则表现出积极的态度，其中45（41.3％）人具有PC方面的工作经验。药物治疗师最常进行的治疗依从性咨询（100; 90.9％）。参加临床会议以向医疗团队成员提供建议（45; 40.9％）和进行教育会议（47; 42.7％）被视为偶尔执行的职责，而大部分患者家访（60; 54.5％）被视为未执行的职责完全没有。药剂师未意识到自己对PC的需求（86; 79.6％）是阻碍其参与的一个主要因素，而接受过PC培训的药剂师与未接受培训的人相比，在接受PC训练的人中明显感到更加放松（p = 0.003）。结论选定的三级护理机构的医院药剂师表现出不足的知识，以及对PC的消极态度。而且，参与核心PC服务的程度通常较低，而药剂师不知道他们对PC的需求构成了主要障碍。因此，