BackgroundCommunity pharmacists play a crucial role in optimising medication use and improving patient outcomes, whilst preventing medication misuse and reducing costs. Evidence suggests that pharmacists counselling improves clinical outcomes, quality of life, drug and disease knowledge and reduces health service utilisation. This study aims to investigate the counselling practices of community pharmacists in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.MethodsThe study consisted of two parts: simulated patients (SPs) visits to observe actual counselling practices, and a cross-sectional survey of community pharmacists to assess their reported counselling practices. In the SPs method, there were four scenarios involving four medications. Scenarios 1 and 2 concerned drug–drug interactions, scenario 3 concerned the proper time of administration, and scenario 4 concerned side effects. The simulated visits were conducted between April and May 2012. A four-sections questionnaire was distributed in the same period.ResultsWe conducted 161 simulated visits. Out of the 161 visits a medicine was dispensed in 150 visits. When SPs requested medications, pharmacists asked questions during 15 visits (10.0 %), provided information during 7 visits (4.6 %), and both asked questions and provided information, i.e. provided counselling, during 4 visits (2.6 %). When the SPs started to be inquisitive and demanded information, pharmacists asked SPs questions during 71 visits (47.3 %), provided information during 150 visits (100 %), and both asked questions and provided information, i.e. provided counselling, during 65 visits (43.3 %). Information regarding dose was the most common type of information provided in 146 visits (97.3 %). After the SPs started to be inquisitive and probed for information, only 10 % were counselled on precautions. In the cross-sectional survey, four hundred pharmacists were approached and 350 agreed to participate in the questionnaire (87 % response rate). Of the respondents, 223 (63.7 %) reported that they usually or always tell the patient about the purpose of medicines or the diagnosis, 302 (86.2 %) reported that they usually or always give patient information on how to use or apply the medicine; 299 (85.3 %) said they were satisfied with their counselling practices.ConclusionsThe present study highlights the current deficiencies in appropriate dispensing practices and medication counselling at community pharmacies in Saudi Arabia. Policy makers, stakeholders, and researchers should collaborate to design interventions to improve the current dispensing practices at community pharmacies across the country.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12913-015-1220-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a life-threatening respiratory disease with a high case fatality rate; however, its risk factors remain unclear. We aimed to explore the influence of demographic factors, clinical manifestations and underlying comorbidities on mortality in MERS-CoV patients. Retrospective chart reviews were performed to identify all laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS-COV infection in Saudi Arabia that were reported to the Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia between 23 April 2014 and 7 June 2016. Statistical analyses were conducted to assess the effect of sex, age, clinical presentation and comorbidities on mortality from MERS-CoV. A total of 281 confirmed MERS-CoV cases were identified: 167 (59.4%) patients were male and 55 (20%) died. Mortality predominantly occurred among Saudi nationals and older patients and was significantly associated with respiratory failure and shortness of breath. Of the 281 confirmed cases, 160 (56.9%) involved comorbidities, wherein diabetes mellitus, hypertension, ischemic heart disease, congestive heart failure, end-stage renal disease and chronic kidney disease were significantly associated with mortality from MERS-CoV and two or three comorbidities significantly affected the fatality rates from MERS-CoV. The findings of this study show that old age and the existence of underlying comorbidities significantly increase mortality from MERS-CoV.

The popularity of purchasing medicines over the Internet is still low in Saudi Arabia. However, because the majority of respondents are willing to purchase medicines online, efforts should be made by the Saudi FDA to set regulations and monitor this activity.

BackgroundPharmacist counselling is an important service that has been associated with improved outcomes. The primary aim of this review was to identify, describe, and determine the effectiveness of interventions for improving the counselling practice of community pharmacists.MethodsWe searched PubMed (from January 1990 to June 2017) and the Cochrane Library (June 2017). To supplement our database searches, we searched Google Scholar for papers that cited the identified studies. We included only studies that reported the impact of the intervention on pharmacists’ behaviour during counselling. We searched for data from studies with randomised trials, non-randomised trials, controlled before-after studies, or interrupted time series study designs. Parameters including selection bias, performance bias, detection bias, and attrition bias were assessed. The data were narratively synthesised.ResultsWe screened 2335 abstracts and 59 full-text articles and included 17 RCTs. Overall, three studies were determined to have a high risk of bias, and 14 studies were determined to have an unclear risk of bias. Fifteen studies investigated multifaceted interventions that included two or more components. The most commonly used interventions were educational meetings (n = 14), educational materials (n = 9), educational outreach visits (n = 5), feedback (n = 5), guidelines (n = 5), and local opinion leaders (n = 2). Outcomes were measured using simulated patient visits (n = 10), and the self-reported outcomes of patient or pharmacists (n = 6). Most of the included studies (n = 11) reported some degree of improvement in counselling practices.ConclusionsThe included studies showed that educational meetings combined with educational materials, outreach visits, and feedback can improve pharmacist counselling in community settings. However, the unclear risk of bias and poor quality of reporting intervention components necessitate caution in interpreting the findings. Recommendations for future studies based on the evidence gap identified in this review are presented.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13643-018-0727-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

In Saudi Arabia, the utilization of the world wide web has become increasingly popular. However, the exact figure of such use is unknown. This study aimed to determine the percentage of, and experience with, online Arabic drug information by Arabic-speaking adults in Saudi Arabia. A web based questionnaire was used. The questionnaire language was Arabic. Public were invited to participate in the survey through e-mails, Twitter, WhatsApp and Facebook in March 2012. The survey included 17 items examining the types of accessed Arabic drug information, the respondent's demographics, their ability to easily find and understand Arabic drug-related information, and their trustfulness and dependency on such information websites. Of the 422 Arabic speaking adults who answered the questionnaire, 88% stated that they used Arabic websites to answer drug-related questions. Of the respondents, 50% had a bachelor's degree, 44% were young adults, over half were female (60%), and 72% of them have a chronic disease. The ease of retrieving online information was the most common reason (69%) for consulting such websites. Google as a search engine was the most frequently (86%) accessible website. Although respondents reported different drug-related topics in their online searching, the search for adverse effects was the most common (68%). Respondents claimed that they could easily find (65%) and understand (49%) the drug-related information. Although a good number of respondents qualified this type of information as good, double-checking of information on other websites was highly recommended. Trustfulness was one of the important parameters to measure and 205 respondents (55%) claimed that they only trusted half of the information cited. Moreover, around 48% of respondents considered that finding the same information on more than one website increased its trustfulness. Surprisingly, 54% of respondents did not depend on Arabic information websites when making decisions on drug use. There are a high proportion of Arabic speaking people in Saudi Arabia using and consulting Arabic drug information websites. This information is easily found and understood. However, the quality and trustfulness of such websites are not high enough to depend on them. A qualified Arabic drug information website is important to meet this need.