Community pharmacists perception and role in the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease conditions: Evidence from Ghana

Comparing knowledge, attitudes, and practices in cardiovascular disease prevention and health promotion between community and hospital pharmacists in Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study

Purpose

Saudi Arabia is one of the leading nations in the world in terms of the high frequency of chronic diseases and their associated risk factors. Knowledge and awareness are crucial for pharmacists to play an active role in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). The current study assessed the pharmacists' knowledge, attitude, and practice to determine the potential differences with respect to their respective practice settings toward CVD prevention and related health promotions.

Methods

It is a cross-sectional study targeted the registered pharmacists in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. An online questionnaire was prepared, and the link was circulated through various social media platforms. Descriptive statistics, multivariate linear regression analysis and chi square test were used to analyze the data accordingly.

Results

A total of 324 pharmacists were included in the study. Among these, 157 (48.4 %) were community pharmacists, and the remaining were hospital pharmacists (51.6 %). No significant differences in knowledge scores were observed between community and hospital pharmacists. The mean attitude score among community and hospital pharmacists was found to be 26.40 ± 5.125 and 25.09 ± 5.393 respectively, which was statistically significant (p = 0.026). Similarly, the total practice scores across the settings were statistically significant (p = 0.02). Gender plays a significant role in terms of knowledge scores among both community and hospital pharmacists (p = 0.016 & 0.029). Gender, professional practice experience, and number of prescriptions handled and prescriptions with CVD medications showed significant differences in the distribution of positive attitudes and good practice frequency between community and hospital pharmacists.

Conclusion

It is evident that there is a deficiency in knowledge among hospital pharmacists compared to community pharmacists. Which indicates that there is a need for a rigorous continuous pharmacy education covering the fundamental aspects of CVD primary prevention and health promotion among pharmacists, given more focus on hospital pharmacists.

Cardiovascular Disease-Related Health Promotion and Prevention Services by Pharmacists in Saudi Arabia: How Well Are They Prepared?

BACKGROUND

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have been identified as the leading reason for morbidity and mortality in Saudi Arabia. Pharmacists play a major role in CVD prevention and health promotion. We aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and involvement of pharmacists in CVD prevention and evaluate the influence of continuing medical education in CVD-prevention services in Saudi Arabia.

METHOD

A cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate the involvement of pharmacists in CVD-related prevention services along with their knowledge and attitudes. A 34-item questionnaire was developed and distributed among the participants.

RESULTS

A total of 324 responses were included in the study. More than 60% of pharmacists had provided counseling regarding the importance of healthy lifestyles and self-monitoring CVD risk factors. About half of the participants (49.1%) had never received any CVD-related continuing medical education. Overall, more than 60% of the participants reported positively towards their role in CVD prevention. Lack of time (66%) and lack of educational materials and tools (41%) were the top perceived barriers for providing CVD-prevention and health-promotion activities, followed by lack of skills in using tools (36%) and lack of privacy/space (33%).

CONCLUSIONS

The involvement of pharmacists in the prevention of CVD is limited in this study. Further education and capacity building are required to strengthen pharmacists' involvement in CVD-prevention and health-promotion activities.