Pharmacists' knowledge and counselling on fall risk-increasing drugs in a tertiary teaching hospital: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to assess pharmacists' knowledge and counseling on fall risk-increasing drugs (FRIDs) in a tertiary teaching hospital in Saudi Arabia. Methods: This study was cross-sectional and was conducted on pharmacists in a tertiary teaching hospital. The study was conducted based on a questionnaire that investigated demographics, awareness, training, and perception of FRIDs, counseling and dispensing of FRIDs and ODs, as well as the general knowledge regarding medication classes. Results: Around 54% of pharmacists were aware that there was a list of FRIDs, and the major source of information was drug leaflets (40%). There were 77.3% of pharmacists who were aware of the tendency of some medications to cause falls. The mean ± SD score of knowledge was 47.2 ± 13.16. The mean score of knowledge significantly varied between age groups (p = 0.003), education levels (p < 0.001), years of practice (p < 0.001), and unit (p < 0.001). Almost 81.3% reported counseling patients, and the focus was on appropriate medication use (58.7%). Counseling training was reported by 50%, and the major place of training was undergraduate pharmacy school (26%). Conclusion: The level of knowledge of pharmacists was acceptable but not enough, and counseling by pharmacists had many gaps that required further education and training.