Assessing the knowledge, attitude and perception about potentially inappropriate medications among community pharmacists in Kedah, Malaysia

Ngooi Ming Ming, Ganesh Pandian Balasubramanian, Sireesha Paruchuri, Sam Aaseer Thamby

Clinical Pharmacy & Pharmacy Practice Unit, Faculty of Pharmacy, AIMST University, Kedah Darul Aman, Malaysia.

Refer this article

Ngooi Ming Ming, Ganesh Pandian Balasubramanian, Sireesha Paruchuri, Sam Aaseer Thamby, 2023. Assessing the knowledge, attitude, and perception about potentially inappropriate medications among community pharmacists in Kedah, Malaysia. Journal of medical pharmaceutical and allied sciences, V 12 - I 2, Pages - 5713 – 5719. Doi: 10.55522/jmpas.V12I2.4332.

ABSTRACT

Potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) among geriatric are detrimental to both clinical outcomes and health care costs. Knowledge of PIMs among community pharmacists plays a vital role in minimizing inappropriate prescribing. Beers Criteria is a commonly used guideline that lists specific PIMs, where community pharmacists would benefit from the knowledge of Beers Criteria in detecting PIMs in primary care. This study, therefore, investigates the knowledge, attitude, and perception of PIMs among community pharmacists in Kedah, Malaysia. This is a prospective, cross-sectional study. The knowledge of PIMs; perception regarding PIMs; awareness of Beers Criteria; and perception of educational needs to enhance community pharmacists’ knowledge about PIMs was assessed by using a 5‐point Likert scale. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests were used to analyze the data. In this study, a total of 107 community pharmacists participated. The respondents demonstrated a higher-level knowledge of PIMs. All of the respondents agreed inappropriate medications among geriatric will cause an increase in healthcare utilization, health complications, and hospitalization. The respondents demonstrated poor awareness of Beers Criteria. The majority of respondents were uncertain that Omeprazole is the most common Beers medication prescribed in the healthcare system. The majority of respondents agreed on the incorporation of geriatric pharmacotherapy education as a core subject or elective subject and postgraduate education in geriatric pharmacotherapy can help to enhance community pharmacists’ knowledge about PIMs among elderly patients. The community pharmacists in Kedah demonstrated a high knowledge level of PIMs but poor awareness of the Beers Criteria. Thus, there is a need to increase the awareness and use of Beers Criteria among community pharmacists.

Keywords:

Potentially inappropriate medications, AGS-Beers criteria, Geriatrics, Community pharmacists.

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