Pharmacy practice in hospital settings in GCC countries: Pharmacists’ medication therapy monitoring activities

Our study aims to provide an overview of medication therapy monitoring practices carried out by pharmacists in hospitals across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

This is a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study of hospitals located in the GCC. Questions were adopted from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) national survey. Frequency analyses were used to examine the number and percentages of specific responses to the survey questions.

A total of 64 hospitals participated in this survey, reflecting an overall response rate of 52.0%. Almost half of participating hospitals (48.4%) were from Saudi Arabia. Among the 64 participating hospitals, 54.7% monitored their patients daily, 40.6% assigned pharmacists to patient care units for at least eight hours per day, and 42.2% held pharmacists accountable for medication-related outcomes. Moreover, the criteria used to identify patients requiring monitoring, 35.9% relied on the list of high-risk medications, 26.5% relied on specific medical services, 21.9% relied on directions from the hospital committee, and 17.2% relied on lab abnormalities. The most frequently utilized method for monitoring adverse drug events (ADEs) was through notifications from nurses or physicians, observed in 60.9% of participating hospitals.

The survey emphasizes the need for hospitals in the GCC to promote increased pharmacist accountability for medication-related outcomes, explore technological solutions to enhance monitoring efficiency and extend the presence of pharmacists in patient care units beyond the current level.