AN EVALUATION OF HOSPITAL PHARMACY POLICIES AND JOB-RELATED ATTITUDES IN TWO GULF NATIONS: A QUALITATIVE STUDY

Abstract

The objective of this study is to explore the Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti pharmacy health policies and job-related attitudes of hospital pharmacists: workload, job satisfaction, working environment, education, training, and services development. Thirty hospital pharmacists, 15 from each country, were interviewed. The study involved semi-structured telephone interviews with snowball sampled respondents. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim and a thematic analysis conducted. Most of the participants reported escalating workload in hospital pharmacy. A crucial issue with pharmacy policies was under-representation of the pharmacy profession as a key body in the policy dialogue. It was indicated that the main barrier to practicing clinical pharmacy in Kuwait was that its importance had not been recognized. On the other hand, Saudi pharmacists found that the main obstacle was the inadequate number of clinical pharmacists. Evaluating the job satisfaction of pharmacists is important in advancing the pharmacy profession. Several issues have been highlighted in both countries, which are mainly centred around the weak representation of the pharmacy profession as a stakeholder in the policy dialogue.