Attitudes and Perceptions of Healthcare Providers towards Clinical Pharmacy Services at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Purpose: To evaluate the attitudes and perceptions of health care providers towards clinical pharmacy services at King Khalid University Hospital Riyadh Saudi Arabia
Method: A cross-sectional survey of healthcare providers was conducted in King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from September to November 2013. A self-administered questionnaire was delivered to health care professionals (HCPs) who included physicians, pharmacists and nurses.
Results: The response rate was 78 % (457/600). The majority of the respondents (92.4 %) knew that the clinical pharmacist is an integral part of the medical team while 86.5 % of the participants expressed confidence in the ability of clinical pharmacists to improve the quality of patient care through their practice. Despite the relative lack of awareness of the increasing interest in clinical pharmacy practice (59.6 % were not aware of such a trend), pharmacists were less appreciative (p < 0.05) of the positive role of clinical pharmacists in direct patient care compared to both physicians and nurses (67.4, 74.3 and 72.3 %, respectively).
Conclusion: The findings of this study reveal that health care professionals HCPs have positive attitude towards the role of the clinical pharmacist in the health care setting studied. However, there is a need for Saudi hospitals to adopt full clinical pharmacy service including drug monitoring, drug information and pharmacotherapy for enhanced health care.

Keywords
Saudi Arabia; Clinical pharmacy services; Healthcare professionals; Attitude; Patient care