Clinical Pharmacist Core Competencies in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The Saudi Society of Clinical Pharmacy (SSCP) is striving to enhance the concept of clinical pharmacy within Saudi Arabia (SA) at all levels. Given the differences that exist between clinical pharmacy education, training, and practice settings in SA and other countries, the SSCP believes that it can play a proactive role in highlighting and streamlining various aspects of clinical pharmacy in SA. By gaining new knowledge, skills, and values through entering clinical practice, clinical pharmacists should be equipped with certain competencies to meet the expectations of the SSCP clinical pharmacy definition. In 2019, the SSCP established an expert writing task force of clinical pharmacy specialists representing different private and governmental sectors to lead and write a series of position statements relating to clinical pharmacy within SA. This position statement seek to identify the core competencies of clinical pharmacists in SA. The SSCP is calling on all educational institutions, postgraduate training programs, and professional organizations to collaborate to guarantee that these competencies are adopted to ensure the professional growth of clinical pharmacists and that optimal individual and population health outcomes are achieved.

Cardiology pharmacy practice in Saudi Arabia: Historical evolution, current status, and future directions

“…At the individual level, cardiology clinical pharmacists currently provide direct patient care, evidence-based medication therapy, patient and family counseling, drug therapy information to patients and other healthcare professionals, and patient-specific outcome monitoring. 14 training as a strategy to advance clinical pharmacy as a profession. 13 Per the SSCP recommendations, all pharmacists expected to provide direct patient care should be required to complete residency training.…”

“…10 The PGY-2 cardiol- patients and community; refine teaching, research, and presentation skills; and demonstrate professionalism. 14,23 Residents are periodically evaluated on the above competencies at the beginning, midpoint, and end of each rotation. The educational activities of cardiology pharmacy residents include but are not limited to daily morning rounds, weekly clinical meetings and delivery of at least one case presentation, monthly morbidity and mortality meetings, weekly multidisciplinary meetings, and one research study per year.…”

“…Many of these competencies could be extrapolated with certain additions to fit the scope of practice for cardiology clinical pharmacists. 14 The fifth challenge is the limited contribution of cardiology clinical pharmacists to biomedical literature. This is not exclusive to cardiology clinical pharmacists, but to the other cardiology fields in Saudi Arabia.…”

“…At the individual level, cardiology clinical pharmacists currently provide direct patient care, evidence‐based medication therapy, patient and family counseling, drug therapy information to patients and other healthcare professionals, and patient‐specific outcome monitoring 14 . Under collaborative practice agreements (CPA), they run pharmacist‐led clinics such as heart failure and anticoagulation clinics.…”

“…In 2018, under the umbrella of the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS), the Saudi Society of Clinical Pharmacy (SSCP) was launched with similar aims to those of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP). It streamlined many aspects related to the clinical pharmacy profession in Saudi Arabia, such as the definition of clinical pharmacy, its required education, training, practice models, competencies, and many more 13,14. IN SAUDI ARABIA 4.1 | General overview…”