NURSES’ KNOWLEDGE OF CLINICAL PHARMACY SERVICES PROVIDED BY PHARMACIST IN PUBLIC HOSPITALS OF QUETTA CITY, PAKISTAN

Objective: The objective of this research is to document and evaluate nurses' knowledge towards clinical pharmacy services offered by pharmacists in public hospital of Quetta city, Pakistan. Methods: The study was designed as a questionnaire based, cross sectional survey. 322 nurses were approached through a self administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were applied to explain respondent's demographic characteristics. Categorical variables were measured as percentages whereas continuous variables were expressed as mean (SD). SPSS v20.0 was used for statistical analysis. Results: A total of 322 questionnaires were distributed and 315 were returned within a response rate of 97%. Majority of the respondents (146 46.3%) were in age range of 28-37 and 269 (85.4%) were working as staff nurse. 255 (81%) had diploma in nursing. A mix response was reported when nurses' perception towards clinical role of pharmacists was assessed. For the statements identifying medication errors and preventing medication errors, majority of respondents disagree with statements. Majority of respondents (192, 91.7%) disagreed with the statement that pharmacist is drug therapy expert. For the statement that pharmacist can improve the quality of medical care and patient care in hospital setting, 178 (56.5%) and 175 (55.6%) respondents disagreed with statements respectively. Conclusion: Overall, nurses reported poor knowledge of clinical pharmacy services provided by pharmacist in public hospitals. There seems to be multiple factors involved and hence a more comprehensive study is needed to identify specific factors affecting the poor knowledge of nurses. Keywords: Nurses' knowledge, clinical pharmacy services, pharmacist, public hospitals, Quetta city, Pakistan