The Internal Medicine Pharmacy Practice Workforce in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The need for healthcare reform in Saudi Arabia (SA) is mostly related to inadequate primary care services, the inconsistent quality of services, and the high demand for workforce capacity and capabilities. Therefore, the proposed healthcare transformation plan is part of the country’s overall transformation plan of Saudi Vision 2030, which aims to prevent morbidity and mortality associated with non-communicable diseases (NCD), communicable diseases, and avoidable injuries. Clinical pharmacists in internal medicine (IM) play an integral role in managing and preventing NCDs and communicable diseases. Most of the leading causes of mortality in SA can be prevented or managed with medications, and highly skilled pharmacist in medication therapy management. To improve the quality of health and well-being of the Saudi population, there is a need for a much larger number of well-trained IM clinical pharmacists in the public and private sectors. This opinion paper by the IM Pharmacy Specialty Network (PSN) of the Saudi Society of Clinical Pharmacy (SCCP) presents the current status of the IM pharmacy workforce in SA and provide initial phase recommendations to help develop the IM pharmacy workforce to serve the needs of the Saudi people. However, to meet the goals of Saudi Vision 2030, all healthcare systems need to work collaboratively with other stakeholders such as MOH, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, and SCFHS to prepare a highly skilled and effective Saudi healthcare workforce to meet the high demands of reforming the healthcare system.