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Continuing education in pharmacy: A cross-sectional study exploring pharmacists' attitudes and perceptions.

ABSTRACT: Background:The pharmacy profession has changed enormously in the recent decades. Pharmacist role has been expanded beyond formulating and dispensing medications to include the provision of pharmaceutical care and public health services to patients. Patient-centred care requires sustained competency through improving pharmacist's knowledge, skills, and performance. Such improvements require pharmacist's involvement in continuing education activities although it is optional in Kuwait. Objective:To explore pharmacists' attitudes towards continuing education in Kuwait, and to investigate the perceived barriers that hinder pharmacists from being involved in continuing education activities.Setting.All governmental hospitals and polyclinics and private pharmacies in all the five health regions of Kuwait (Capital, Hawalli, Ahmadai, Farwaniyah, and Jahra). Method:A descriptive cross-sectional study conducted with full licensed pharmacists working in Kuwait. Pharmacists were asked to complete an adapted validated questionnaire composed of 14 items to measure their attitudes towards continuing education. In addition, it contains open-ended questions to obtain the type of learning activity undertaken by the pharmacists, and whether they have barriers that hinder them from being involved in continuing education. Results:A total of 409 pharmacists completed the questionnaire. The participants had a median score of 44 (interquartile range = 41-47); good to excellent attitudes. Attitude scores were correlated with age and years of experience. Almost 70% of the participants had attended a continuing education activity within one year. The activity undertaken most by pharmacists was attending a seminar, compared to other activities. The main barriers to continuing education were lack of personal time (n = 383), lack of scientific databases and books (n = 187) and conferences are not regularly organized locally (n = 154). Conclusion:Pharmacists in Kuwait have positive attitudes towards continuing education overall. However, there are many obstacles that avert pharmacists to practice continuing education. Further studies are required to explore how to overcome the reported barriers and provide more feasible and relevant continuing education to pharmacists.

SUBMITTER: Aldosari H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7335716 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Continuing education in pharmacy: A cross-sectional study exploring pharmacists' attitudes and perceptions.

Aldosari Hailah H Alsairafi Zahra Z Waheedi Salah S

Saudi pharmaceutical journal : SPJ : the official publication of the Saudi Pharmaceutical Society 20200603 7

<h4>Background</h4>The pharmacy profession has changed enormously in the recent decades. Pharmacist role has been expanded beyond formulating and dispensing medications to include the provision of pharmaceutical care and public health services to patients. Patient-centred care requires sustained competency through improving pharmacist's knowledge, skills, and performance. Such improvements require pharmacist's involvement in continuing education activities although it is optional in Kuwait.<h4>O ...[more]

PMID: 32647481

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Project description:BackgroundContinuing education (CE) is an internationally recommended approach as a lifelong learning model for pharmacists, enabling them to maintain the necessary knowledge, skills and ethical attitudes so as to remain current and competent in their practice.ObjectivesThe objective of this study is to 1) describe factors associated with taking different types of CE courses among pharmacists in Lebanon, and 2) assess the correlation between types of CE activity and the attitude of Lebanese pharmacists (motivation and value) and their computer literacy.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional observational study conducted between February and May 2017, using a random sample of Lebanese pharmacists from all districts of Lebanon. All pharmacists were eligible to participate; the sample consisted of those who agreed to complete the questionnaire. The questionnaire includes questions about computer literacy, motivation and value about CE, in addition to sociodemographic characteristics of pharmacists.ResultsOut of the 750 questionnaires distributed, 628 (83.73%) were filled out and returned to be analyzed. The mean age of the participants was 39.04 (SD 10.57) years, 66.9% of them were females, and 41.1% of them had a bachelor degree in pharmacy and worked in Mount Lebanon. Among the 628 respondents, 567 (90.3%) have earned at least one CE credit. Of those, 5.4% took mainly online courses, 15.4% took mainly live courses and the remaining took both types of CE. Higher motivation (aOR=1.05; CI 0.994-1.109) and higher value (aOR=1.076; CI 0.968-1.197) were associated with higher odds of taking live CE courses. Higher motivation (aOR=1.07; 95%CI 0.994-1.152) was associated with higher odds of taking online CE courses. Higher motivation (aOR=1.059; 95%CI 1.006-1.114) and higher general confidence with computer use (aOR=1.058; 95%CI 1.012-1.106) were significantly associated with higher odds of taking both types of CE courses.ConclusionsA high percentage of Lebanese pharmacists enrolled in the CE system, mainly driven by motivation and value of CE, in addition to a higher general confidence in computer use. Further efforts should be exerted by the Lebanese Order of Pharmacists to motivate pharmacists and help them improve their computer literacy, which is expected to improve not only enrollment in CE activities, but also the completion of their CE requirements.

Project description:BackgroundContinuing education (CE) is an international tool that requires lifelong active participation in learning activities allowing the pharmacist to stay a major player among others. In 2014 the CE program was introduced to the pharmacists licensed in Lebanon as a mandatory requirement for re-licensure. In the absence of guidelines regarding the quality and quantity of CE programs, behavioral resistance to precipitate in the CE programs might be encountered among the pharmacists.ObjectiveThe objective of this study is to assess the perceptions of pharmacists working in Lebanese hospitals on the continuing education preferences. The advantage of this program is to collect information that would help the Order of Pharmacy in Lebanon to upgrade the CE program in a way that is more acceptable and convenient for the pharmacists.MethodsA cross-sectional study was carried out in 2016, using a proportionate random sample of Lebanese hospital pharmacies from all governorates in Lebanon. A structured questionnaire was distributed to all hospital pharmacies in Lebanon. Descriptive statistics were calculated for all study variables. This includes the mean and standard deviation for continuous measures, counts and percentages for categorical variables.ResultsA total of 107 (53.5%) participants completed the questionnaires. The majority of participants were from Beirut and Mount Lebanon. The percentage of participants working at private hospitals was (68.2%).The majority of participants who completed the questionnaire (86.2%) agreed that continuing education programs affects their way of practice and increases their knowledge. Their preferred CE types to be used in the future were the computer based ones (60.6%), interactive workshops (45.5%) and printed materials (44.9%). Their considerations for selecting the CE type is based on their interest in the topic (80.6%), the ease of access to print or online material (77.2%), or the convenience of being offered during an event (67.1%). Participants noted that barriers to attend live CEs were mainly work responsibilities (76%), travel distance (65.6%), family commitments (48.4%) and scheduling (40.6%).ConclusionsLebanese hospital pharmacists are highly committed to CE. They consider it a practical tool for career development and advancement.

Project description:BackgroundAustralian pharmacists currently dispense a wide range of prescription-only cannabis-based medicines. Recent regulatory changes will expand the role of pharmacists, allowing certain low-dose cannabidiol products to be supplied without a prescription in pharmacies. This harmonises Australia with many other countries where cannabidiol products are readily available to consumers.AimTo examine Australian pharmacists' experience, knowledge and attitudes towards medicinal cannabis and their preparedness to supply over-the-counter low-dose cannabidiol products.MethodWe conducted a cross-sectional study using a 51-item on-line questionnaire that was informed by previous surveys of health professionals and assessed for face validity. Australian pharmacists were recruited to complete the survey between May and December 2021, primarily through professional pharmacy organisations. Pharmacists were included in the final dataset if they completed the demographic characteristics section and at least one additional section of the questionnaire. Data were analysed using descriptive and relational statistical tests.ResultsThere were 272 attempts to complete this survey and 217 responses included in the final dataset. Over half of the respondents (60.0%, 130/217) had dispensed at least one medicinal cannabis prescription during their career and 58.5% (127/217) had received at least one medicinal cannabis enquiry in the last fortnight. Only around half (53.9%, 117/217) felt comfortable supplying medicinal cannabis products and fewer (39.3%, 79/201) were confident discussing cannabis-related enquiries. More than half of the respondents (58.7%, 118/201) supported the provision of low-dose cannabidiol products through pharmacies. Two-thirds (67.8%, 80/118) of respondents achieved relatively low scores (< 60%) in the knowledge component of the survey. Most respondents (94.2%, 178/189) endorsed a need for further training in this area.ConclusionAustralian pharmacists tended to support medicinal cannabis availability and improved access to low-dose cannabidiol products via pharmacies. However, results highlight a need for improved training and education of pharmacists around cannabis-based medicines.

Project description:The concept of pharmacovigilance (PV) is currently highlighted after emergency authorization and worldwide distribution of the urgently launched COVID-19 novel vaccinations. As they typically serve as the initial point of patient contact for medication-related issues, understanding the knowledge, perspectives, and attitudes of community pharmacists in PV and reporting adverse drug reactions (ADRs) is crucial to improving the healthcare system and public health policies. However, previous studies in Jordan have not focused entirely on community pharmacists. This study aimed to assess community pharmacists' knowledge, perspectives, and attitudes on PV and ADRs reporting in Jordan. The applied methodology in this study was based on a cross-sectional study design using a validated questionnaire distributed to a convenient sample of Jordanian community pharmacists. Seventeen questions were designed from different pieces of literature relating to knowledge, perspectives, and attitudes of PV among community pharmacists. Descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages) were used to report the results data. The study questionnaire was completed by 180 of 325 community pharmacists willing to participate (a response rate of 55.4%). Of them (n = 132, 73%) were aware of the concept of PV. Additionally (n = 84, 47%) of the community pharmacists would use the concept and policy of PV in their everyday work. Nevertheless, only (n = 36, 20.0%) of the community pharmacists thought an ADR should be reported if seen, and approximately 120 pharmacists (67.0%) believed it was essential to report ADRs as patient health matters. Although community pharmacists in Jordan showed a considerable awareness level of PV, they demonstrated a low level of its application. Thus, ADR reporting is not considered a mainstay among them, and the implementation of PV is not yet addressed. The results from this study shed light on community pharmacists' perceptions and attitudes regarding ADR reporting and PV.

Dataset Information

Continuing education in pharmacy: A cross-sectional study exploring pharmacists' attitudes and perceptions.

Publications

Continuing education in pharmacy: A cross-sectional study exploring pharmacists' attitudes and perceptions.

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