Attitudes and Perceptions of Healthcare Providers and Medical Students Towards Clinical Pharmacy Services in United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Purpose: To explore healthcare providers' (HCPs) and medical students' attitudes to, and perceptions of the pharmaceutical services that clinical pharmacists can provide in United Arab Emirates. Methods: A total of 535 participants (265 HCPs and 270 medical students) were asked to complete a questionnaire over a period of three months (January through March 2009). Results: Almost three quarters of the students perceived that the clinical pharmacist is an important part of the healthcare team while 82% believed that clinical pharmacists can help improve the quality of medical care in hospitals. Eighty one percent of medical students expressed confidence in the ability of clinical pharmacists to minimize medication errors. Although slightly more than half of the respondents (53%) reported that they did not have clinical pharmacy services in their institutions, there was substantial willingness among physicians and nurses to cooperate with clinical pharmacists. The majority of physicians (92%) and nurses (87%) expressed the view that the clinical pharmacist is an important integral part of the healthcare team. Conclusion: The HCPs and medical students in the study setting valued the role of clinical pharmacists in healthcare delivery. However, new developments in pharmacy services in the UAE hospital setting is recommended for adoption in hospitals.

Attitudes and Perceptions of Healthcare Providers towards Clinical Pharmacy Services at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

“…The results of the current study resemble those of similar study done in this regard at united arab emirates UAE [12]. The results reinforced the fact that clinical pharmacist should communicate positively with physicians and show them their capabilities in direct patient care.…”

“…The questionnaire was written in English language and developed from review of the literature and previous studies relating to the clinical pharmacy services [12]. The survey questions were pre-tested by health care providers with extensive experience in clinical pharmacy services.…”

Clinical Pharmacy Profession in the Eyes of Healthcare Providers in Uae

“…Clinical pharmacy is a recent area of practice in which pharmacist focus on patient oriented rather than drug oriented services. [1][2][3][4] Clinical pharmacy is the provision of proactive service where pharmacists directly interact in the patient care process through communicating with patients and other health care providers (HCPs). [3] Over the past two decades, a growing body of evidence has demonstrated that clinical pharmacy ensures better patient outcomes and improves patient quality of life.…”

“…[7] Limited number of pharmacist employed as patient care provider as being clinical pharmacist (CP). [4,7,8] Unfortunately, clinical pharmacy services in UAE private and public health care settings are rare except Abu Dhabi and to certain extend in Dubai. [7,8] There is increasing evidence that the interaction between HCPs and CP ensure the goal of better patient outcomes, less therapeutic failure, more safe therapy and optimum cost effectiveness value.…”

Health-care professionals' perceptions and expectations of pharmacists' role in the emergency department, United Arab Emirates

“…It is worth mentioning in this context that the first pharmacy college in the UAE was established only in 1992 and that only 2 postgraduate clinical pharmacy programmes are currently offered through colleges in UAE. A previous study done in the UAE had also reported a shortage of clinical pharmacists in UAE hospitals [12], with the very few available pharmacists deployed in hospitals managed by international institutions, such as Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Cleveland Clinic [13]. This lack of clinical pharmacists in UAE hospitals is similar to the situation in other countries, as reported by the Institute of Medicine in 2006, which demonstrated the need for clinical pharmacists as part of the ED team to improve safety but also recognized the lack of pharmacists as part of interdisciplinary emergency medicine teams at most institutions [14].…”