ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The present study examined pharmacists' knowledge and practices towards prescribed medications for hemodialysis patients. The impact of a pharmacist's current positions and years of experience on practices and knowledge was also assessed. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was distributed to pharmacists working at King Abdul-Aziz Medical City-Central Region over a period of 4 months from July to October in 2015. RESULTS: Of the 85 approached pharmacists, 66 pharmacists completed the questionnaire, among which 45 (68.2%), 9 (13.6%), and 12 (18.2%) of them were outpatient hospital pharmacists, discharge counselling pharmacists, and pharmacy practice residents, respectively. In total, 47 (55.3%) of the pharmacists sought drug information resources for newly prescribed medications to hemodialysis patients. Among the surveyed pharmacists, around two-thirds of them (63.6%) were completely confident during counselling hemodialysis patients, while 32% were moderately confident, and only 4.5% were not confident. All of the participating pharmacists checked each patient's allergic status before dispensing hemodialysis medications. The majority of the outpatient hospital pharmacists (35; 77.8%), discharge pharmacists (8; 88.9%), and the pharmacy practice residents (11; 91.7%) agreed that oral ciprofloxacin should be given after dialysis session on the same dialysis days, while 18 (40%), 5 (55.6%), and 9 (75%) of the outpatient hospital pharmacists, discharge pharmacists, and pharmacy practice residents agreed that IV route is preferred for hemodialysis patients to administer epoetin alfa, respectively. Sixty-six percent of discharge pharmacists (n = 6), 91.7% (n = 11) of the pharmacy practice residents, and 55.6% (n = 25) of the outpatient hospital pharmacists checked patient laboratory results prior to dispensing medications (p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Despite the limited knowledge regarding some prescribed medications, most of the hospital pharmacists showed good practices toward dialysis patients.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The primary objective was to assess the satisfaction of patients undergoing hemodialysis regarding counseling services provided by pharmacists. The secondary objectives were to compare the effect of years on dialysis and the presence of comorbidities on patient satisfaction. METHODS: A total of 138 patients were included in the study, and all demographic and clinical variables were retrieved from the dialysis unit records of King Abdulaziz Medical City over a period of 4 months from July to October 2015. Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test were used for group comparisons at a significance level of 0.05. Results: Most patients aged between 51 and 75 years and had been on dialysis for 1 to 5 years; 94.9% of them had comorbidities. The overall satisfaction of patients toward pharmacy services was excellent (77.5%), and approximately 38.4% of patients thought that pharmacists were providing clear information about their prescribed medications. In addition, 55.8 % of the patients did not know that hemodialysis could affect the efficacy of their medications. Conclusions: Patients undergoing hemodialysis were somewhat satisfied with the counseling provided by the pharmacist. Moreover, there is a need for educational programs for patients undergoing hemodialysis that would increase awareness among hospital pharmacists to improve patients' medication knowledge.
