Readiness to Educate Patient: Indonesian Health Professionals’ Perspective

The aim of this study was to investigate Indonesian health professionals’ practice in educating patients and explore the perceived barriers. A self-administered questionnaire was given to the health professionals attending the Agent of Change (AoC) meeting in Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia. Data were explained by descriptive analysis. One hundred and twenty health professionals participated in this study. Majority participants were female (75.8%), the mean of age were 46.74 (SD 5.32), pharmacists (63.3%), work in primary health care (62.5%), working experience <5 years (54.2%), and had counseling experience (66.7%). Name of medicine and its active ingredients was the most medication information which counselled by participants (3.67±1.22). Limited time to communicate to the patients was the most barrier that perceived by health professionals (70.8%). Improve the work efficiency is the key strategies. Health professionals can be effectively trained in counseling skills and be encouraged by constant monitoring of the obtained skills.