Abstract

CLINICAL PHARMACY PROFESSION IN THE EYES OF HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS IN UAE

Sundos Qassim*, Fatima Boura, Sahar Munir, Yassin Al Harirri and Zakia Metwali

Abstract

Clinical pharmacist can play a unique role in ensuring the rational use of medicine and improving the health related quality of life among different patients. A cross-sectional study, conducted from February 2015 through May2015 aimed to investigate the acceptance level of integrating clinical pharmacists into the healthcare team. The study was conducted by using a convenience sampling method; a structured questionnaire had been distributed among177 healthcare providers. Point scoring was used to assess the questionnaire parts. All answers and scores of every participant coded and entered in SPSS 20 software. The relationship between attitude and perception of healthcare providers toward Clinical Pharmacy Services in UAE investigated using Spearman‟s Rank Order Correlation (rho). There was a positive correlation between the two variables. The current research confirmed previous findings that more efforts should be achieved to improve healthcare providers awareness about the importance of collaboration with clinical pharmacists and what benefits can be reflected on patient‟s health-related quality of life and health care in general.

Keywords: Clinical pharmacy. Clinical Pharmacists. Healthcare providers. Attitude. Perception. Patient care