Impact of Clinical Pharmacist Consultation Visits at Ministry of Health Hospitals in Saudi Arabia: Clinical Pharmacy Services and Pharmacy Workforce

Abstract

<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Background</strong>: Pharmacy practice residency program (PPRG) is one of a major professional degree in Saudi Arabia. The residency is very high demand in the pharmacy market. The clinical pharmacist required to visit hospitals to improve the services and start the program. <strong>Objective:</strong> The goal of this study to explore the value of clinical pharmacist consultation visit with emphasis on clinical pharmacy services (CPS) and pharmacy education and training (PET) at Ministry of Health hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. <strong>Methods:</strong> It is a twelve months cohort study of a regular visit to three major hospitals included public, pediatrics with maternity and emergency specialties at Riyadh region. The assessment used based on Saudi hospital pharmacy standards, MOH pharmacy strategic plan, and the 6-points Likert assessment scale system before the study and by the end of the study. The total number of finished projects were eighteen projects divided between CPS (twelve projects) and PET (six projects). <strong>Results:</strong> The improvements range changes in CPS from 16.7% to 100% with average positive improvement 48%. In the PET the improvements range changes were 32.8% to 100% with average positive changes was 85%. The highest score of the projects of CPS was an assessment of pharmacy services, assessment of emergency pharmacy services, and assessment of critical pharmacy services. The maximum score of the projects of PET was doing an interview with hiring a new pharmacist, train drug Information for staff pharmacist, and apply on the job training for the new pharmacist. <strong>Conclusion:</strong> The pharmacist showed practical significance impact on the clinical pharmacy services and pharmacy education and training in Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia. The increasing number of consultation visit with regular evaluation is necessary to keep continues pharmacy improvement at all hospital pharmacies. <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Key words:</strong> Impact, Clinical Pharmacist, Hospital Pharmacy, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia.