Abstract
Objectives: The primary goal of this study is to assess the current geriatric pharmaceutical care and patient satisfaction among elderly patient. Another aim is to increase the awareness among pharmacists in providing better guidelines for proper geriatric pharmaceutical care in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
 Methods: A pilot observational study was done through the dissemination of cross-sectional surveys among pharmacists and geriatrics in the Emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah. Three hundred and eight pharmacists and 110 geriatric patients were randomly selected to participate in the study.
 Results: Among pharmacists participating in the study, 32.1% were from Abu Dhabi, 37.6% from Dubai, and 30.1% from Sharjah. Geriatric patients who participated from Abu Dhabi were 30.0%, 38.1% were from Dubai, and 31.8% were from Sharjah. Geriatrics level of satisfaction was higher in Abu Dhabi compared to Sharjah and Dubai (p=0.0005). Pharmacists in Sharjah and Dubai had higher interest in taking special courses on how to deal with elderly patients compared to pharmacists in Abu Dhabi (p<0.0001).
 Conclusions: Geriatrics satisfaction toward pharmaceutical care is not the same in all Emirates of the UAE. This calls for implementing diverse measures such as providing training courses for pharmacists specialized in geriatrics care, which aims to provide a high-quality pharmaceutical care to all geriatrics in the UAE.
Highlights
Medication mismanagement, in the elderly, is a constant, crucial, and life-threatening issue that is attributed to several factors including inadequate pharmaceutical care
When the geriatric patients were asked if they would listen to the pharmacist counseling when offered, about 19% stated that they would not listen for different reasons
In pharmacists’ survey, the results showed that majority of patients in Sharjah and Dubai (74.5%) think that pharmacists should be more trained to deal with elderly patients
Summary
Medication mismanagement, in the elderly, is a constant, crucial, and life-threatening issue that is attributed to several factors including inadequate pharmaceutical care. Geriatrics is patients who are 60 years or older according to the United Nations classifications [1]. The UAEs aging population and rapid social change are putting health and well-being of the elderly at risk [1,2]. According to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, pharmaceutical care is the responsible, direct provision of medicationrelated care with the rationale of achieving outcomes that improve a patient’s quality of life [2]; while the World Health Organization defined pharmaceutical care as a philosophy of practice, in which the patient is the primary beneficiary of the pharmacist’s actions. Pharmaceutical care focuses on the ethics, attitudes, commitments, behaviors, concerns, knowledge, functions, responsibilities, and skills of the pharmacist with the aim of achieving therapeutic outcomes toward patient health and quality of life [3]
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