Clinical Pharmacy Department, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Medication Safety Research Chair, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
PLoS One. 2023 Jun 29;18(6):e0286537. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286537. eCollection 2023.
Assess the Saudi pharmacists' perceptions of their responsibilities toward deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) patients, their current practices, and their need for communication skills training.
A prospective cross-sectional study.
Pharmacist and deaf communication questionnaire (PDCQ), a newly structured, validated, pilot-tested, and self-administered online questionnaire, was used to collect data. A total of 303 pharmacists working in the Saudi community and outpatient pharmacies participated in the study. Data were analyzed using SPSS and descriptive statistics were used to describe the study findings. These included Mean ± standard deviation (SD), frequency, and Chi-square tests.
Most pharmacists perceived that DHH patients had difficulty correctly understanding their medication instructions. Writing was the most common method used for communication, whereas the unavailability of interpreters and the low reading levels of these patients were the highest barriers to communication. Moreover, most pharmacists believed that they should be skilled at communicating with DHH patients. However, many pharmacists felt that they are not well prepared to communicate with these patients.
This research highlights the poor skills, low confidence and low knowledge Saudi pharmacists have about their legal obligations towards DHH patients. In addition, there is paucity of sufficient resources to help pharmacists improve their communication with such patients.
评估沙特药剂师对聋人和重听（DHH）患者的职责、当前实践以及对沟通技巧培训的需求的认知。
前瞻性横断面研究。
使用新构建、验证、试点测试和自我管理的在线问卷，即药剂师与聋人沟通问卷（PDCQ）来收集数据。共有 303 名在沙特社区和门诊药房工作的药剂师参与了这项研究。使用 SPSS 进行数据分析，并使用描述性统计来描述研究结果。包括均值±标准差（SD）、频率和卡方检验。
大多数药剂师认为 DHH 患者难以正确理解他们的用药说明。书写是最常用的沟通方法，而缺乏口译员以及这些患者的阅读水平低是沟通的最大障碍。此外，大多数药剂师认为他们应该具备与 DHH 患者沟通的技能。然而，许多药剂师觉得他们没有很好地准备好与这些患者沟通。
这项研究强调了沙特药剂师在与 DHH 患者沟通方面的技能差、信心低和知识匮乏的问题。此外，缺乏足够的资源来帮助药剂师改善与这些患者的沟通。
