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Pharmaceutical care in Kuwait: hospital pharmacists’ perspectives

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Abstract

Background Pharmaceutical care practice has been championed as the primary mission of the pharmacy profession, but its implementation has been suboptimal in many developing countries including Kuwait. Pharmacists must have sufficient knowledge, skills, and positive attitudes to practise pharmaceutical care, and barriers in the pharmacy practice model must be overcome before pharmaceutical care can be broadly implemented in a given healthcare system. Objective To investigate hospital pharmacists’ attitudes towards pharmaceutical care, perceptions of their preparedness to provide pharmaceutical care, and the barriers to its implementation in Kuwait. Setting Six general hospitals, eight specialized hospitals and seven specialized health centers in Kuwait. Method A descriptive, cross-sectional survey was distributed to all pharmacists working in the governmental hospitals in Kuwait (385 pharmacists). Data were collected via a pre-tested self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics including percentages, medians and means Likert scale rating (standard deviations) were calculated and compared using statistical package for social sciences, version 20. Statistical significance was accepted at a p value of <0.05. Main outcome measure Pharmacists’ attitudes towards pharmaceutical care, perceptions of their preparedness to provide pharmaceutical care competencies, and the barriers to its implementation in Kuwait. Results Completed surveys were received from 250 (64.9 %) of the 385 pharmacists. Pharmacists expressed overall positive attitudes towards pharmaceutical care. They felt well prepared to implement the various aspects of pharmaceutical care, with the least preparedness in the administrative/management aspects. Pharmacists with more practice experience expressed significantly more positive attitudes towards pharmaceutical care (p = 0.001) and they felt better prepared to provide pharmaceutical care competencies (p < 0.001) than those with less experience as practitioners. The respondents agreed/strongly agreed that the most significant barriers to the integration of pharmaceutical care into practice were lack of private counseling areas or inappropriate pharmacy layout (87.6 %), organizational obstacles (81.6 %), inadequate staff (79.6 %), and lack of pharmacist time and adequate technology (76.0 %). Conclusion Hospital pharmacists in Kuwait advocate implementation of pharmaceutical care while also appreciating the organizational, technical and professional barriers to its widespread adoption. Collaborative efforts between health authorities and educational institutions, and the integration of innovative approaches in pharmacy management and education could overcome these barriers and achieve the transition towards pharmaceutical care practice.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all the pharmacists who participated in the study. We are grateful to the hospital pharmacy directors for facilitating the distribution of the study questionnaire. We thank pharmacists Sara Al-Ajmi and Noura Al-Hamdan for their valuable assistance in data collection.

Funding

None.

Conflicts of interest

The Authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Kuwait University, PO Box 24923, 13110, Safat, Kuwait

    Maram G. Katoue & Samuel B. Kombian

  2. Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, Kuwait University, PO Box 24923, 13110, Safat, Kuwait

    Abdelmoneim I. Awad

  3. Department of Clinical Pharmacy, West Virginia University School of Pharmacy, PO Box 9520, Morgantown, WV, 26506, USA

    Terry L. Schwinghammer

Authors
  1. Maram G. Katoue
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  2. Abdelmoneim I. Awad
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  3. Terry L. Schwinghammer
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  4. Samuel B. Kombian
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Correspondence to Maram G. Katoue.

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Katoue, M.G., Awad, A.I., Schwinghammer, T.L. et al. Pharmaceutical care in Kuwait: hospital pharmacists’ perspectives. Int J Clin Pharm 36, 1170–1178 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-014-0013-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-014-0013-z

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