FARMACIA, 2021, Vol. 69, 2 367 https://doi.org/10.31925/farmacia.2021.2.23 ORIGINAL ARTICLE KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE OF COMMUNITY PHARMACY PERSONNEL ABOUT IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL TRACK AND TRACE SYSTEM, IN TURKEY ÖZLEM NAZAN ERDOĞAN 1 , ÖZLEM AKBAL DAĞISTAN 2 *, MIRAY ARSLAN 3 , GÜLNAZ ÇIĞ 4 , ALI SAYAR 5 , MEHMET SARPER ERDOGAN 6 1 Department of Pharmacy Management, Faculty of Pharmacy, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey 2 Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey 3 Department of Pharmacy Management, Faculty of Pharmacy, Van Yuzuncu Yıl University, Van, Turkey 4 Tuberculosis Unit, Erzurum Yakutiye District Health Directorate, Erzurum, Turkey 5 Faculty of Pharmacy, Istanbul, Turkey 6 Department of Public Health, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, Istanbul, Turkey *corresponding author: ozlemakbal@istanbul.edu.tr Manuscript received: April 2020 Abstract Pharmaceutical Track and Trace System (PTTS) is a successful implementation of Track and Trace approach which has been applied since 2010 in Turkey. Briefly, it defines the infrastructure framework for all units belonging to each product and works by using the Datamatrix code, which provides the sureness of the uniqueness. The aim of this study was to evaluate the community pharmacy personnel’s attitudes and knowledge about the PTTS, in order to reveal their expectations and identify problems thereof. 56 community pharmacies located in Beyoglu district of Istanbul, Turkey (n = 120) were included. The data were collected from 15 th - 30 th of April 2017 by a structured questionnaire. Besides evaluating descriptive statistics, χ 2 test was conducted to analyse relationship between demographics and knowledge, attitudes, and practices of the pharmacy personnel, respectively. This study shows that PTTS is found useful especially for providing drug safety and facilitating and accelerating the recall of the drugs. Rezumat Sistemul de monitorizare a medicamentelor (SMM) reprezintă implementarea cu succes a abordării trasabilității acestora din activitatea practică în Turcia încă din anul 2010. Pe scurt, definește cadrul de infrastructură pentru fiecare medicament și codul Datamatrix, care asigură unicitatea produsului. Scopul acestui studiu a fost de a evalua atitudinile și cunoștințele personalului farmaciei comunitare despre SMM, așteptările acestora și de a identifica problemele cu care se confruntă. În acest studiu au fost incluse 56 de farmacii comunitare situate în districtul Beyoglu din Istanbul, Turcia (n = 120). 56 de farmacii au participat la studiu. Datele au fost colectate în perioada 15 - 30 aprilie 2017 printr-un chestionar structurat. Pe lângă evaluarea statistică descriptivă, testul χ 2 a fost realizat pentru a analiza relația dintre aspectul demografic și cel științific, corelat cu atitudinea și practicile personalului din farmacie. Keywords: pharmacy practice; pharmaceutical track and trace system, safety Introduction Contemporary progress in science and technology is an important factor in designation of the countries’ prosperity. At the same time, this progress arises as a power which seriously contributes to the economy and socio-cultural structure of these countries. This progress has a role not only in designation of state policies, but also in development of healthcare, which is a priority area for countries. In this context, patients’ attainment of true and genuine medicine, which is the primary source for protecting and/or regaining health, is a keystone for the health policies. Although there are different definitions for counterfeit drugs in the literature, National Authorities mainly accept the World Health Organization’s (WHO) latest definition in which WHO classifies counterfeit medicines and defines them as (1) substandard (authorized medicinal products that fail to meet either their quality standards or specifications, or both), (2) unregistered (that have not undergone approval by the National or Regional Authority for the market in which they are distributed), and (3) falsified (that deliberately misrepresent their identity, composition or source) medicinal products [1, 2]. Based on WHO’s latest statistical analysis report, it is estimated that up to 15% of medicinal products sold in the worldwide are classified as counterfeit drugs and this ratio is higher for the developing countries and goes up to 30% [3]. Another source of counterfeit drugs is the internet, as many pharmaceuticals