Dataset Information

Perception of the importance of continuing professional development among pharmacists in a middle east country: A cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The role of pharmacists has recently expanded, necessitating enhanced competencies. This requires pharmacists' participation in continuing education initiatives. This study aims to explore attitudes, motivations, opportunities, and challenges of pharmacists in a country in the middle east, towards continuous professional development.

Methods

A cross-sectional observational close-ended questions study was conducted in Jordan between September and October 2021, and enrolled 309 pharmacists, the tool was developed by the research team and experts in the field to evaluate the continuous professional development perception among pharmacists. The research was approved by the Ethics and Research Committee in an area hospital and a University.

Results

The majority of participants had confidence that continuous professional development prepares pharmacists for practical development, believed that it enhances the status of the profession with other health care professionals as well as with the public, and felt confident that it meets their needs (> 98%). Most of the participants agreed that job restrictions (91%) and lack of time (83%) were the major barriers to participation in continuous professional development. The motivation was positively correlated with attitudes (R = 0.551, P < .001). However, barriers were not significantly correlated with either attitudes or motivations.

Conclusion

Our findings emphasize the positive attitude of pharmacists towards continuous professional development. Identified barriers to continuous professional development participation included job constraints and lack of time. The study highlights the need for policies and procedures that address these issues before the implementation of mandatory continuous professional development programs for pharmacists.

SUBMITTER: Darwish RM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10104320 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Perception of the importance of continuing professional development among pharmacists in a middle east country: A cross-sectional study.

Darwish Rula M RM Ammar Khawla K Rumman Asma A Jaddoua Saad M SM

PloS one 20230414 4

<h4>Background</h4>The role of pharmacists has recently expanded, necessitating enhanced competencies. This requires pharmacists' participation in continuing education initiatives. This study aims to explore attitudes, motivations, opportunities, and challenges of pharmacists in a country in the middle east, towards continuous professional development.<h4>Methods</h4>A cross-sectional observational close-ended questions study was conducted in Jordan between September and October 2021, and enroll ...[more]

PMID: 37058486

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundThe 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.ObjectiveTo 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).MethodA 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.ResultsA 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).ConclusionPharmacists 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.

Project description:Introduction: An estimated 80% of the world's population use traditional and complementary medicine (T&CM) products as part of their healthcare, with many accessed through pharmacy. This cross-cultural study posed a set of professional practice responsibilities and actions to pharmacists related to T&CM products, with a view toward developing consensus, safeguarding, and promoting the health of the public. Methods: Data were collected from 2,810 pharmacists across nine countries during 2022 via a cross-sectional online survey reported in accordance with the guidelines of STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) and the Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys (CHERRIES). Results: Of the 2,810 participants from nine countries, 2,341 completed all sections of the survey. Of these, most agreed (69%) that T&CM product use was common in the community they served, but most did not have adequate training to support consumer needs. Over 75% acknowledged that there were known and unknown safety risks associated with T&CM use. Of 18 professional responsibilities posed, 92% agreed that pharmacists should be able to inform consumers about potential risks, including T&CM side effects and drug-herb interactions. The provision of accurate scientific information on the effectiveness of T&CM products, skills to guide consumers in making informed decisions, and communication with other healthcare professionals to support appropriate and safe T&CM product use were all ranked with high levels of agreement. In order to effectively fulfill these responsibilities, pharmacists agreed that regulatory reforms, development of T&CM education and training, and access to quality products supported by high-quality evidence were needed. Conclusion: General agreement from across nine countries on eighteen professional responsibilities and several stakeholder actions serve as a foundation for the discussion and development of international T&CM guidelines for pharmacists.

Project description:BackgroundA significant number of cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related deaths occur in developing countries. An increasing prevalence of CVD is associated with a change in the macro-economy of these countries. In this post hoc analysis, CVD risk factor (CVDRF) prevalence is evaluated across countries based on national income in the Africa and Middle East Region (AfME).MethodsData from the Africa Middle East Cardiovascular Epidemiological (ACE) study were used; a cross-sectional study in 14 AfME countries (94 clinics) from July 2011-April 2012, which evaluated CVDRF prevalence in stable adult outpatients. World Bank definitions were used to classify countries as low-income (LI), lower-middle-income (LMI), upper-middle-income (UMI) or high-income (HI) countries. Four thousand three hundred seventy-eight subjects were recruited where 260 (6%), 1324 (30%), 1509 (35%) and 1285 (29%) were from LI, LMI, UMI, and HI countries, respectively.ResultsOf all the CVDRFs evaluated, almost two-thirds of the study population across the national income groups had abdominal obesity and dyslipidemia. Countries in the HI category were associated with a higher prevalence of diabetes (32%), obesity (44%) and smoking (16%). UMI and HI countries were associated with higher clustering of CVDRFs where at least one-third of subjects having four or more CVDRFs. Lower income countries had lower blood pressure control rates and lower percentages of outpatients achieving LDL-cholesterol targets.ConclusionThe burden of CVDRFs in stable outpatients is high across the national income categories in the AfME region, with HI countries showing a higher prevalence of CVDRFs. The high burden in lower income countries is associated with sub-optimal control of dyslipidemia and hypertension. Lowering the CVDRF burden would need specific public health actions in line with positive changes in the macro-economy of these countries.Trial registrationThe ACE trial is registered under NCT01243138.

Project description:BackgroundAmid the turbulent nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, telepharmacy has shifted the paradigm of patient care by leveraging digital medicine. Government mandated lockdowns and norms of social distancing have further underscored the need for telepharmacy. Many developed and developing countries implemented such initiatives where pharmacists have provided tele-pharmacy services via telecommunications. However, the implementation and utilization of tele-pharmacy services are quite negligible in resource limited settings due to financial and administrative constraints. This study was aimed to ascertain the perception and readiness of pharmacists working in various sectors of a resource limiting country.MethodologyA cross sectional study was carried out in all provinces of Pakistan to explore the perceptions of pharmacists towards telepharmacy implementation through a 35-items study instrument. The collected data was analyzed descriptively and scored accordingly. The chi-square test was used for inferential analysis on pharmacist's perception regarding implementation of tele-pharmacy with their demographics.ResultsOf 380 pharmacists, the mean age is 27.67 ± 3.67 years with a preponderance of male pharmacists (n = 238, 62.6%). The pharmacists (n = 321, 84.5%) perceived that telepharmacy implementation improves patient's quality of life and decreases patients' visits (n = 291, 76.6%). Overall, pharmacists (n = 227, 59.7%) had negative perception towards benefits of telepharmacy implementation, but pharmacists had positive perception towards eligibility (n = 258, 67.9%), regulatory issues (n = 271, 71.3%) and telepharmacy during pandemic and beyond (n = 312, 82.1%). In chi-square testing gender (p = 0.03) and age (p = 0.03) had a significant association with perception regarding regulatory issues. Among perception regarding telepharmacy during COVID-19 pandemic and beyond age had a significant association (p = 0.03). Among perception regarding eligibility job location of pharmacists had significant association (p = 0.04).ConclusionThe majority of pharmacists had a positive perception regarding the eligibility of patients and regulatory issues/legal framework regarding the implementation of tele-pharmacy, as well as its use during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. The implementation of tele-pharmacy can play a major role in providing timely and better patient care to remote patient areas and may help in the prevention and treatment of different infectious diseases.

Dataset Information

Perception of the importance of continuing professional development among pharmacists in a middle east country: A cross-sectional study.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Perception of the importance of continuing professional development among pharmacists in a middle east country: A cross-sectional study.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets