Abstract
<Background>Recently, the close alliance between physicians and pharmacists, has been reported necessary and effective for the good management of adult asthma, as inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) therapy is spreading in Japan. So far, there has been no report about the alliance between them for the management of pediatric asthma. Since we would like to consider and achieve a good alliance between them for pediatric asthma, we took a questionnaire to pharmacies in Miyagi Prefecture. <Methods>We administered a mail-back survey by questionnaire sheets to pharmacies in Miyagi prefecture. Among 454 answers (collection rate: 43.4%), we analyzed 334 answers from pharmacies which prescribed to children. <Results>44.7% of the pharmacists answered that they were asked about the side effects of ICS by the patients or their parents, and 44.8% of them answered that they felt the doctors' explanation of the use of ICS were not adequate. On the other hand, direct instruction to the patients and its frequency of the use of ICS by pharmacists were not also adequate. For the good management of pediatric asthma, the majority of pharmacists wished to have a good alliance between themselves and physicians, and an opportunity such as an educational seminar about asthma with physicians, and a standardized instruction of ICS. <Conclusion>Most of the pharmacists have high motivation to achieve an effective alliance between themselves and physicians.
