Mat Nuri Thimarul Huda, Hong Yet Hoi, Ming Long Chiau, Mohd Joffry Suhaidah, Othman Muhamad Faiz, Neoh Chin Fen
Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Puncak Alam, Malaysia.
Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Front Pharmacol. 2017 Oct 26;8:739. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2017.00739. eCollection 2017.
The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) has increased with the fast growing of aging population, thereby posing great challenges to provision of care for AD patients. Pharmacists play a vital role in the management of AD; this includes recognizing early symptoms of AD, providing medication counseling to AD patients and their caretakers, and identifying potential adverse drug reactions. A comprehensive understanding of the disease progression, as well as the pharmacological therapy, is essential to provide effective care to AD patients. The level of knowledge about AD among the pharmacists, however, remains unknown. Hence, this study aimed to assess the knowledge on AD among the pharmacists in public hospitals and health clinics and its correlates. A clear picture of the characteristics associated with different levels of knowledge could facilitate the targeted re-training of pharmacists. The 30-item validated Alzheimer disease knowledge scale (ADKS) tool was pilot-tested and used in this cross-sectional study. All pharmacists, from nine public hospitals and seven public health clinics in the State of Selangor, Malaysia, were invited to participate in this cross-sectional survey. The ADKS score was computed and compared across demographics characteristics. A total of 445 pharmacists responded to the survey. These pharmacists had a moderate overall score in ADKS; nevertheless, high scores were recorded in the domains of treatment management and care giving. No difference in AD knowledge was found among pharmacists worked in public hospitals and health clinics, except for the domain of care giving ( = 0.033). Ethnicity and age group were independent predictors of ADKS score in the current study. The pharmacists in the current study had moderate AD knowledge. On-going education and training programme on AD, in particular the domains other than treatment management and care giving, should be provided to the pharmacists to ensure delivery of quality care to AD patients.
随着老年人口的快速增长，阿尔茨海默病（AD）的患病率有所上升，这给AD患者的护理工作带来了巨大挑战。药剂师在AD的管理中发挥着至关重要的作用；这包括识别AD的早期症状，为AD患者及其护理人员提供用药咨询，以及识别潜在的药物不良反应。全面了解疾病进展以及药物治疗对于为AD患者提供有效护理至关重要。然而，药剂师对AD的知识水平仍不明确。因此，本研究旨在评估公立医院和健康诊所药剂师对AD的知识及其相关因素。清晰了解与不同知识水平相关的特征有助于有针对性地对药剂师进行再培训。在这项横断面研究中，对经过验证的30项阿尔茨海默病知识量表（ADKS）工具进行了预测试并使用。邀请了马来西亚雪兰莪州九家公立医院和七家公共健康诊所的所有药剂师参与这项横断面调查。计算ADKS得分并在不同人口统计学特征之间进行比较。共有445名药剂师回复了调查。这些药剂师在ADKS中的总体得分中等；不过，在治疗管理和护理领域的得分较高。在公立医院和健康诊所工作的药剂师在AD知识方面没有差异，除了护理领域（P = 0.033）。在本研究中，种族和年龄组是ADKS得分的独立预测因素。本研究中的药剂师对AD的知识水平中等。应向药剂师提供关于AD的持续教育和培训计划，特别是治疗管理和护理领域以外的领域，以确保为AD患者提供优质护理。
