Abstract
Objective: The present study examined pharmacists' knowledge and practices towards prescribed medications for hemodialysis patients. The impact of a pharmacist's current positions and years of experience on practices and knowledge was also assessed. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was distributed to pharmacists working at King Abdul-Aziz Medical City-Central Region over a period of 4 months from July to October in 2015. Results: Of the 85 approached pharmacists, 66 pharmacists completed the questionnaire, among which 45 (68.2%), 9 (13.6%), and 12 (18.2%) of them were outpatient hospital pharmacists, discharge counselling pharmacists, and pharmacy practice residents, respectively. In total, 47 (55.3%) of the pharmacists sought drug information resources for newly prescribed medications to hemodialysis patients. Among the surveyed pharmacists, around two-thirds of them (63.6%) were completely confident during counselling hemodialysis patients, while 32% were moderately confident, and only 4.5% were not confident. All of the participating pharmacists checked each patient's allergic status before dispensing hemodialysis medications. The majority of the outpatient hospital pharmacists (35; 77.8%), discharge pharmacists (8; 88.9%), and the pharmacy practice residents (11; 91.7%) agreed that oral ciprofloxacin should be given after dialysis session on the same dialysis days, while 18 (40%), 5 (55.6%), and 9 (75%) of the outpatient hospital pharmacists, discharge pharmacists, and pharmacy practice residents agreed that IV route is preferred for hemodialysis patients to administer epoetin alfa, respectively. Sixty-six percent of discharge pharmacists (n = 6), 91.7% (n = 11) of the pharmacy practice residents, and 55.6% (n = 25) of the outpatient hospital pharmacists checked patient laboratory results prior to dispensing medications (p = 0.001). Conclusions: Despite the limited knowledge regarding some prescribed medications, most of the hospital pharmacists showed good practices toward dialysis patients.