{"title":"Role of pharmacists in the care of adult asthma patients: A scoping review","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.sapharm.2024.06.005","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><p>Asthma is a common long-term condition that affects people of all ages. Evidence suggests that a significant proportion of asthma patients in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) do not receive appropriate diagnosis, monitoring and/or treatment. When inadequately treated, asthma can negatively affect quality of life and may lead to hospitalisation and death. Although pharmacists play a role in asthma care globally, there appears to be no defined role for pharmacists in providing care to patients with asthma in the GCC countries.</p></div><div><h3>Aim</h3><p>This scoping review aims to review and summarise studies conducted in the GCC countries involving pharmacists in the management of adults with asthma or evaluating pharmacists' asthma care knowledge and/or skills.</p></div><div><h3>Method</h3><p>A systematic scoping review was undertaken. Seven databases were searched using relevant search terms for articles published up to May 2023. Studies that evaluated pharmacists roles, knowledge and skills in providing asthma care to adults in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain were considered eligible for inclusion. Extracted data were collated using tables and used to produce narrative descriptive summaries.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Out of the 1588 search results, only seven studies met the inclusion criteria. Of those, only one developed and tested a pharmacist-led inhaler technique educational intervention in the UAE within community pharmacy setting for asthma patients. The remaining six studies assessed community pharmacists knowledge in providing asthma management and patient education in UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The quality of the included studies varied with four relying on simulated patients to assess pharmacists knowledge. The study that tested the intervention suggested improvement in inhaler technique and asthma symptoms control after receiving the intervention. The findings suggest a need to improve pharmacists knowledge of inhaler technique demonstration (mainly Metered Dose Inhalers), asthma management advice and assessment of asthma control and medication use.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>This review highlights a lack of research on pharmacist-led asthma interventions and identifies training needs to enable pharmacists to be involved in asthma care in the GCC countries. Future research could develop approaches involving pharmacists to improve asthma care and outcomes in the region.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48126,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social & Administrative Pharmacy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1551741124001967/pdfft?md5=9a1e5b41c8be4da29a68d0da432c36df&pid=1-s2.0-S1551741124001967-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Research in Social & Administrative Pharmacy","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1551741124001967","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background
Asthma is a common long-term condition that affects people of all ages. Evidence suggests that a significant proportion of asthma patients in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) do not receive appropriate diagnosis, monitoring and/or treatment. When inadequately treated, asthma can negatively affect quality of life and may lead to hospitalisation and death. Although pharmacists play a role in asthma care globally, there appears to be no defined role for pharmacists in providing care to patients with asthma in the GCC countries.
Aim
This scoping review aims to review and summarise studies conducted in the GCC countries involving pharmacists in the management of adults with asthma or evaluating pharmacists' asthma care knowledge and/or skills.
Method
A systematic scoping review was undertaken. Seven databases were searched using relevant search terms for articles published up to May 2023. Studies that evaluated pharmacists roles, knowledge and skills in providing asthma care to adults in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain were considered eligible for inclusion. Extracted data were collated using tables and used to produce narrative descriptive summaries.
Results
Out of the 1588 search results, only seven studies met the inclusion criteria. Of those, only one developed and tested a pharmacist-led inhaler technique educational intervention in the UAE within community pharmacy setting for asthma patients. The remaining six studies assessed community pharmacists knowledge in providing asthma management and patient education in UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The quality of the included studies varied with four relying on simulated patients to assess pharmacists knowledge. The study that tested the intervention suggested improvement in inhaler technique and asthma symptoms control after receiving the intervention. The findings suggest a need to improve pharmacists knowledge of inhaler technique demonstration (mainly Metered Dose Inhalers), asthma management advice and assessment of asthma control and medication use.
Conclusion
This review highlights a lack of research on pharmacist-led asthma interventions and identifies training needs to enable pharmacists to be involved in asthma care in the GCC countries. Future research could develop approaches involving pharmacists to improve asthma care and outcomes in the region.
期刊介绍:
Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy (RSAP) is a quarterly publication featuring original scientific reports and comprehensive review articles in the social and administrative pharmaceutical sciences. Topics of interest include outcomes evaluation of products, programs, or services; pharmacoepidemiology; medication adherence; direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription medications; disease state management; health systems reform; drug marketing; medication distribution systems such as e-prescribing; web-based pharmaceutical/medical services; drug commerce and re-importation; and health professions workforce issues.