TITLE:
Perception of Physicians to the Role of Clinical Pharmacists in United Arab Emirates (UAE)
AUTHORS:
Osama Mohamed Ibrahim, Rana Ibrahim
KEYWORDS:
Clinical Pharmacists, Physicians, Perception, Questionnaire, United Arab Emirates
JOURNAL NAME:
Pharmacology & Pharmacy,
Vol.5 No.9,
August
19,
2014
ABSTRACT:
The present study aims to
investigate the perceptions and experience of physicians regarding the clinical
role of the pharmacists. This is an observational study that was conducted
during the period of September 2013 through March 2014. A self-administered
questionnaire was designed to be distributed by personal interview to the
physicians. The questionnaire population consisted of randomly selected
physicians practicing in UAE. The questionnaire was piloted by 10 physicians
for face and understandability. Demographic data, frequencies and cross
tabulation between different variables were calculated. The Chi-square test was
used to determine the significance of association between categorical variables
(gender, length of medical practice, and specialty) and the perception of
physicians. A total of 285 filled questionnaires were returned representing 285
physicians, with a male dominance (65.3%). The average age of the physician
screened was 32.4 (SD = 10.38) years with a minimum one year experience and up
to 24 years. General practitioners consumed the widest sector (21.8%) followed
by cardiologists (15.8%), then internal medicine (10.1%). In the current study,
two thirds of the physicians believed that pharmacists could act as a reliable
source of general drug information and play an important role in discovering
clinical related problems. It was found that the physicians who had fewer years
in practice (less than 10 years) and recently graduated had more acceptances to
the clinical role of the pharmacist and believed that there should be a
clinical pharmacy services in their hospitals (p-value