<Journal> </Journal>

<ArticleTitle>Emergency Contraception and the Knowledge of Community Pharmacists in Isfahan, Iran</ArticleTitle>

<FirstPage>147</FirstPage>

<LastPage>147</LastPage>

<Language>EN</Language>

<AuthorList> </AuthorList>

<History> </History>

<Abstract>Objectives: Emergency contraception&nbsp; (EC)&nbsp; is a special contraception method&nbsp; that prevents pregnancy after an unsafe sexual contact. Pharmacists, as&nbsp; the most available member of medical&nbsp; team have a unique role in patient education for appropriate use of contraceptive methods. In this study, we assessed the pharmacists' knowledge about emergency contraception. Methods: A&nbsp; researcher made&nbsp; questionnaire was&nbsp; developed&nbsp; and&nbsp; used according&nbsp; to national guide&nbsp; line and electronic databanks. A group of experts&nbsp; and&nbsp; pharmacists&nbsp; validated&nbsp; the&nbsp; questionnaire.&nbsp; Reliability&nbsp; was measured by Half&ndash;Split Test. The questionnaires were&nbsp; filled by pharmacists. Results:&nbsp; Average&nbsp; knowledge&nbsp; score&nbsp; were&nbsp; 8.12&nbsp; &plusmn;&nbsp; 0.28&nbsp; for&nbsp; women&nbsp; and&nbsp; 7.83 &plusmn; 0.31 for men (from a maximum of 15) which showed no significant&nbsp; difference&nbsp; between men&nbsp; and women&nbsp; (P =&nbsp; 0.492).&nbsp; There was&nbsp; no significant difference between pharmacists who had precipitated in continuing education programs and that of those who had not (P = 0.286). Scores of pharmacists who graduated 13 years ago or more did not significantly differ from others (P = 0.287). Conclusions: Because of low scores of pharmacist&rsquo;s knowledge about EC&nbsp; and&nbsp; the&nbsp; importance&nbsp; of&nbsp; unintended&nbsp; pregnancy&nbsp; prevention,&nbsp; its&nbsp; improvement&nbsp; is an urgent need. Regular and&nbsp; frequent continuing education programs could be one of the recommended interventions. Keywords: Knowledge, Pharmacist, Isfahan, Emergency contraception.</Abstract>