A study of managerial practices of pharmacists working in teaching hospitals in south-western Nigeria

Abstract

There is a dearth of studies on managerial practices by hospital Pharmacists in Nigeria. The objectives of this study were to identify the types of managerial skills, leadership styles used by hospital pharmacists, and assess the influence of such leadership styles on managerial practice. A cross-sectional survey of randomly selected 137 registered pharmacists in five teaching hospitals was conducted using pre-tested questionnaires. Responses were analyzed with appropriate descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of SPSS version 20 software. The response rate was 80.6%. The study revealed that conceptual, human and technical skills were the dominant skill types while the leadership style was more transformational than transactional. There was a positive correlation between human and technical skills. Negative correlation was observed between transformational and transactional leadership style components. The study showed that more attention should be paid to management courses at the undergraduate level in order to equip pharmacists with managerial and leadership skills for hospital practice.

Keywords: Managerial skill, leadership style, teaching hospital, Nigeria