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Purpose: Patient satisfaction with pharmacy services, particularly in outpatient and discharge pharmacy settings, has become a vital metric for assessing medical quality. However, there's limited research on patient satisfaction in discharge pharmacy services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This study aims to systematically investigate and delineate the various patient-related and non-patient-related factors that significantly impact patient satisfaction in the realm of discharge pharmacy services. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted over three months at King Abdulaziz Medical City in Jeddah (KAMC-J). The sample size was determined using a single population proportion formula, which resulted in a required sample size of 384 patients. A validated questionnaire with a five-point Likert scale evaluated satisfaction from "Strongly Dissatisfied" (1 point) to "Very Satisfied" (5 points) has been used. Data collectors underwent training and obtained written consent from participants, with questionnaire completion taking 5-10 minutes face to face. Results: The study encompassed 437 participants, primarily male (59%) with a college education (45.3%), residing mostly in Jeddah (67.3%). Notably, 84.4% were not healthcare providers, and most visited the pharmacy every six months (44.6%). The patient satisfaction survey revealed high scores for counseling understanding, pharmacist courtesy, and the way the pharmacist answered questions (4.94±0.31, 4.94±0.27, 4.94±0.32; respectively), but lower for understanding possible side effects (4.30±1.30) and pharmacy location (4.57±0.99). In logistic regression, visits lasting 10-15 minutes, and less than 10 minutes were significantly (p<0.05) associated with increased odds of patient satisfaction (OR=6.39, OR=9.45; respectively) Moreover, the medium length hospital stay was associated with decreased odds of patient satisfaction (OR=0.31, p=0.026). Conclusion: In conclusion, the study determined a significant proportion of patients are satisfied with discharge pharmacy services at KAMC-J, with the length of consultation and hospital stay being pivotal to their satisfaction. Addressing these factors, alongside optimizing pharmacist-patient communication and pharmacy service efficiency, can substantially elevate the quality of pharmaceutical care and patient experience.
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Introduction Most computerized physician order entry (CPOE) software come with clinical decision-support components (CDS) that provide prescribers assistance and notify them about adverse drug reactions. An excessive number of alerts in a repeated and non-relevant manner leads to alert fatigue and enforces physicians and pharmacists to alert overrides. King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC) in Jeddah still reports a higher percentage of drug alerts overridden by clinicians and pharmacists. Thus, this study was conducted to evaluate CDS alerts overriding and to determine which alerts are clinically irrelevant and need modifications. Methods The study was carried out in the inpatient setting at KAMC in Jeddah, from September 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020. It was designed as a retrospective chart review study that included all red alerts that required comments and were overridden by a physician and pharmacist. Results Among 11350 red alerts, potential drug-drug interaction (pDDI), dose, and allergy alerts represent 57%, 41%, and 2%, respectively, of the total alerts. The most common drug-drug interactions (DDIs) in category X were proton pump inhibitors and clopidogrel (9.9%). The appropriate response by prescribers and pharmacists toward allergy alerts was associated with the highest odds compared with the other alerts (p < 0.05) while there is a significant decrease in the odds of appropriate action being taken by both prescribers and pharmacists in the dose screen alerts (p < 0.05). Among all clinical specialties, there is an increased odds of appropriate action being taken by residents and fellows for allergy and dose alerts, respectively, compared to other groups (p < 0.05). For diminishing the unnecessary alerts, we provided 14 alert refinements strategies and advised turning off four alerts. Applying this will terminate 32% of irrelevant alerts. Conclusion Our study's findings indicated that a substantial number of alerts are ignored, and the rate of appropriateness varies significantly by alert type and prescriber level.
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Vancomycindosing error and inappropriate monitoring is a common problem in hospital daily practice. In King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC) in Jeddah, a high percentage of abnormal vancomycin trough levels is still detected despite using the recommended dose. Therefore, the current research objective is to study the major causes of vancomycin dosing errors. This retrospective, single-center, cross-sectional study was carried out at KAMC hospital in Jeddah from January 1st until December 31st 2019. All adult patients (≥15 years) who received vancomycin and had an initial abnormal trough level at the measured steady-state were included in this study. 472 patients have met the study inclusion criteria. The current study evaluated the factors that play a role in causing vancomycin trough level abnormalities such as sampling time, vancomycin dosing, and patient's pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic variations. In this study, we found that pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic variability was attributed to 65% of vancomycin's abnormal trough level. Also, the result showed a significantly increased odds of the low trough in the non-elderly group (OR 6, 95% CI 2.48 - 14.9, P < 0.001) and febrile neutropenic patients (OR 2.21, 95% CI 1.119 - 4.365, P < 0.05). However, the odds of high trough levels were significantly elevated among patients who have CrCl < 50 ml/min (OR 5, 95% CI 1.262-20.539, P < 0.05). In addition, the present investigation revealed that the occurrence of abnormal vancomycin levels was not affected by daily duty time or working days (p > 0.05). The current study indicated that vancomycin dosing errors were common in KAMC patients; thus, there is an unmet need to evaluate the causes of vancomycin abnormal trough level and optimize a strategy that would enhance the therapeutic effectiveness and minimize the potential toxicity.
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Pharmacist intervention has valuable input to the healthcare system by reducing medication errors, costs of treatment and improving therapeutic outcomes. This study aimed to analyze pharmacists' interventions during the verification of computerized physician order entry and to determine the association between prescribers' level and type of prescribing errors. In this cross-sectional, observational study, data collection was carried out over three months starting from 1 January 2020 to 31 March 2020. Included were 2405 interventions documented by 52 different pharmacists. The prevalence of prescribing order entry errors was 9.1%. The most identifiable type of intervention was incorrect dilution (40.2%) followed by dose substitution (27.7%). The drug category associated with a high percentage of interventions was perfusion solutions (41%), followed by antibacterial (35%). The number of junior physician orders that required pharmacist intervention was higher than other prescribers (45.2%), followed by specialist and senior physicians, (31.4% and 15.5%, respectively). Prescriber ordering time and types of prescribing errors were shown to have a significant (p < 0.05) association. Internal medicine physicians entered the highest percentage of prescribing errors, representing 22.7%. The current study concluded that TID has significant potential to reduce drug-related problems; TID fatigue is a real problem that might be under-reported and addressing this point in future studies would be of great value.
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Since early December 2019, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been relentlessly spread worldwide and has hit the healthcare systems with terrible force. Pharmacists play a vital role in the healthcare system in providing medicines, therapeutics, vaccines, clinical services, and other pharmaceutical care services to patients. Therefore, to ensure all these services continued at King Abdulaziz Medical City - Jeddah during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Pharmaceutical Care initiated a departmental crisis preparedness plan, as a part of general hospital preparedness plan. It started with adjusting medication dosing time, instituting a daily medication refill process, working remotely, expanding the use of automation, and modifying employee schedules. Other actions included the following: handling drug shortages, placing restrictions on some medications, using personal protective equipment, changing routine practices of pharmacy aides, revising the medication delivery process, starting a contingency training program, and restricting pneumatic tube operation. We took guidance from the Ministry of Health, our own institute's experience, World Health Organization recommendations, updated scientific research, and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists regulatory updates. This article aims to describe how health services, policies, and systems were applied and adapted to address a specific problem while maintaining all pharmacy employees' safety. This article reviews the inpatient pharmacy's particular needs and responses to these needs to meet the COVID-19 pandemic challenges.