Current Perspectives, Practices, and Barriers Faced by Community Pharmacists Regarding Pharmaceutical Care Services for Diabetes Mellitus in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Ammar Abdulrahman Jairoun,1,2 Sabaa Saleh Al-Hemyari,1,3 Moyad Shahwan,4,5 Sumaya Abdulrahman Jairoun,6 Nasser M Alorfi,7 Sa’ed H Zyoud,8,9 Abdulhaq A Suliman,5,10 Manar Khalil Shahwan,4,5 Ghala Alnuaimi,4 Monzer Shahwan,11 Tariq Al-Qirim,12 Faris El-Dahiyat13,14 1Discipline of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Pulau Pinang, 11500, Malaysia; 2Health and Safety Department, Dubai Municipality, Dubai, United Arab Emirates; 3Pharmacy Department, Emirates Health Services, Dubai, United Arab Emirates; 4College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Ajman University, Ajman, 346, United Arab Emirates; 5Centre of Medical and Bio-Allied Health Sciences Research, Ajman University, Ajman, United Arab Emirates; 6Department of Clinical Pharmacy & Pharmacotherapeutics, Dubai Pharmacy College for Girls, Al Mizhar Dubai, United Arab Emirates; 7Pharmacology and Toxicology Department, College of Pharmacy, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia; 8Department of Clinical and Community Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, 44839, Palestine; 9Clinical Research Centre, An-Najah National University Hospital, Nablus, 44839, Palestine; 10College of Dentistry, Ajman University, Ajman, United Arab Emirates; 11Diabetes Clinic, AL-Swity Center for Dermatology and Chronic Diseases, Ramallah, 972, Palestine; 12Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan, Amman, 11733, Jordan; 13Clinical Pharmacy Program, College of Pharmacy, Al Ain University, Al Ain, 64141, United Arab Emirates; 14AAU Health and Biomedical Research Center, Al Ain University, Abu Dhabi, 112612, United Arab EmiratesCorrespondence: Moyad Shahwan; Ammar Abdulrahman Jairoun, Tel [phone], Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Providing accurate and sufficient information is a crucial requirement for delivering effective diabetes care, making it essential for community pharmacists to possess adequate knowledge of diabetes mellitus (DM) and its management.Objective: To investigate community pharmacists’ level of expertise and engagement in providing counseling and health promotion services for individuals with DM in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used. The community Pharmacies were chosen via random sampling and researchers then conducted face-to-face interviews with them using the structured questionnaire. The questionnaire included demographic data, 14 questions on the knowledge and 9 questions about the practice concerning pharmaceutical care for Diabetes Mellitus.Results: The average age ± SD was 31 ± 6.3. Of the total 516 community pharmacists recruited in the study, 37.2% (n=192) were male and 62.8% (n=324) were female. The average knowledge score about DM prevention and management was 9.7 with a 95% confidence interval (CI) [9.5, 9.9] and the average practice score about DM prevention and management was 7.1 with a 95% confidence interval (CI) [6.9, 7.2]. Better knowledge scores were observed in chief pharmacists (OR 1.29; 95% CI 1.08– 1.56), pharmacists with 6– 10 Years of experience (OR 6.92; 95% CI 3.43– 8.86), pharmacist with > 10 years of experience (OR 1.99; 95% CI 1.67– 2.36), when the number of patients the pharmacist serve is 5– 10 (OR 1.27; 95% CI 1.06– 1.53) and being trained on DM prevention and management (OR 2.18; 95% CI 1.92– 2.47). Similarly, better practice scores were observed in older participants (OR1.02; 95% CI 1.001– 1.03), chain pharmacies (OR 1.42; 95% CI 1.20– 1.68), chief pharmacists (OR 1.56; 95% CI 1.18– 2.06), when the number of patients the pharmacists serve was 5– 10 (OR 12.26; 95% CI 7.26– 16.19), when the number of patients the pharmacists serve was 11– 20 (OR 4.23; 95% CI 3.54– 5.06) and being trained on DM prevention and management (OR 1.33; 95% CI 1.11– 1.59). The most commonly reported barriers to providing counseling and health promotion services for diabetes mellitus (DM) in community pharmacies include a lack of coordination with other healthcare professionals (77%) and insufficient knowledge or clinical skills (68.7%).Conclusion: Our study revealed that community pharmacy staff members displayed a noteworthy level of involvement in providing pharmaceutical care services for patients with diabetes mellitus. Based on these findings, it is recommended to enhance pharmacy education by incorporating more advanced, evidence-based training and curricula focusing on disease management and appropriate therapies, particularly for diabetes.Keywords: diabetes mellitus, knowledge, practice, pharmaceutical care, type 2 diabetes mellitus, diabetes care and community pharmacies

Keywords

• diabetes mellitus
• knowledge
• practice
• pharmaceutical care
• type 2 diabetes mellitus
• diabetes care and community pharmacies.