Pharmacists’ Prescribing in Saudi Arabia: Cross-Sectional Study Describing Current Practices and Future Perspectives
Pharmacist prescribing is being increasingly undertaken to better use their skills and reduce the workload of existing prescribers such as doctors, often using formal processes to legitimate these activities. In developing countries like Saudi Arabia, however, pharmacists’ prescribing remains inform...
Main Authors: | , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
MDPI AG
2020-09-01
|
Series: | Pharmacy |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4787/8/3/160 |
id |
doaj-084574b74e8d45e390e3a190e5413452 |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-084574b74e8d45e390e3a190e54134522020-11-25T01:25:10ZengMDPI AGPharmacy2226-47872020-09-01816016010.3390/pharmacy8030160Pharmacists’ Prescribing in Saudi Arabia: Cross-Sectional Study Describing Current Practices and Future PerspectivesAlyaa M. Ajabnoor0Richard J. Cooper1Pharmacy Practice Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. BOX 80324, Jeddah 21589, Saudi ArabiaSchool of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S1 4DA, UKPharmacist prescribing is being increasingly undertaken to better use their skills and reduce the workload of existing prescribers such as doctors, often using formal processes to legitimate these activities. In developing countries like Saudi Arabia, however, pharmacists’ prescribing remains informal with no legislation or formal training and there is a lack of research and understanding into such practices. Therefore, we aimed to describe current pharmacist prescribing practices in Saudi Arabia and explore pharmacists’ views about pharmacists’ prescribing. This is a cross-sectional survey study using an online questionnaire of hospital pharmacists in Saudi Arabia about pharmacists’ prescribing, and associated views about prescribing legislation and barriers to implementing pharmacist prescribing. Over a quarter (28.5%) of pharmacists reported themselves as prescribers, 49% were following a collaborative prescribing model, 18% independent prescribing, and 33% were doing both. Ninety percent of prescribers reported confidence in prescribing the appropriate treatment and 92.3% perceived they will benefit from more prescribing training. Healthcare practice culture and pharmacist’s competency were identified as barriers. There is an overall support for pharmacists’ prescribing in Saudi Arabia among this sample of hospital pharmacists, with limitations in resources and the absence of standardized prescribing training being perceived as key barriers to pharmacists’ prescribing.https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4787/8/3/160Saudi Arabiapharmacist prescribingattitudeprescribing modelquestionnaire |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Alyaa M. Ajabnoor Richard J. Cooper |
spellingShingle |
Alyaa M. Ajabnoor Richard J. Cooper Pharmacists’ Prescribing in Saudi Arabia: Cross-Sectional Study Describing Current Practices and Future Perspectives Pharmacy Saudi Arabia pharmacist prescribing attitude prescribing model questionnaire |
author_facet |
Alyaa M. Ajabnoor Richard J. Cooper |
author_sort |
Alyaa M. Ajabnoor |
title |
Pharmacists’ Prescribing in Saudi Arabia: Cross-Sectional Study Describing Current Practices and Future Perspectives |
title_short |
Pharmacists’ Prescribing in Saudi Arabia: Cross-Sectional Study Describing Current Practices and Future Perspectives |
title_full |
Pharmacists’ Prescribing in Saudi Arabia: Cross-Sectional Study Describing Current Practices and Future Perspectives |
title_fullStr |
Pharmacists’ Prescribing in Saudi Arabia: Cross-Sectional Study Describing Current Practices and Future Perspectives |
title_full_unstemmed |
Pharmacists’ Prescribing in Saudi Arabia: Cross-Sectional Study Describing Current Practices and Future Perspectives |
title_sort |
pharmacists’ prescribing in saudi arabia: cross-sectional study describing current practices and future perspectives |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Pharmacy |
issn |
2226-4787 |
publishDate |
2020-09-01 |
description |
Pharmacist prescribing is being increasingly undertaken to better use their skills and reduce the workload of existing prescribers such as doctors, often using formal processes to legitimate these activities. In developing countries like Saudi Arabia, however, pharmacists’ prescribing remains informal with no legislation or formal training and there is a lack of research and understanding into such practices. Therefore, we aimed to describe current pharmacist prescribing practices in Saudi Arabia and explore pharmacists’ views about pharmacists’ prescribing. This is a cross-sectional survey study using an online questionnaire of hospital pharmacists in Saudi Arabia about pharmacists’ prescribing, and associated views about prescribing legislation and barriers to implementing pharmacist prescribing. Over a quarter (28.5%) of pharmacists reported themselves as prescribers, 49% were following a collaborative prescribing model, 18% independent prescribing, and 33% were doing both. Ninety percent of prescribers reported confidence in prescribing the appropriate treatment and 92.3% perceived they will benefit from more prescribing training. Healthcare practice culture and pharmacist’s competency were identified as barriers. There is an overall support for pharmacists’ prescribing in Saudi Arabia among this sample of hospital pharmacists, with limitations in resources and the absence of standardized prescribing training being perceived as key barriers to pharmacists’ prescribing. |
topic |
Saudi Arabia pharmacist prescribing attitude prescribing model questionnaire |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4787/8/3/160 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT alyaamajabnoor pharmacistsprescribinginsaudiarabiacrosssectionalstudydescribingcurrentpracticesandfutureperspectives AT richardjcooper pharmacistsprescribinginsaudiarabiacrosssectionalstudydescribingcurrentpracticesandfutureperspectives |
_version_ |
1725114799442886656 |