Assessment of knowledge and counseling practice of warfarin among pharmacists in UAE: A cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE: BACKGROUND: Warfarin has long been regarded as the cornerstone anticoagulant for patients requiring long-term prevention or treatment of thromboembolic disorders. With adequate knowledge and counseling skills, hospital and community pharmacists can play a major role in enhancing warfarin therapy. OBJECTIVE: to evaluate the knowledge and counseling practices toward warfarin among community and hospital pharmacists in UAE. METHODS: A cross-sectional study involving community and hospital pharmacies was conducted with online questionnaire which was submitted to pharmacists focusing on their pharmacotherapeutic knowledge and patient education toward warfarin in UAE. Data were collected within 3 months (July, August and September 2021). SPSS Version 26 was used to analyze the data. The survey questions were sent to expert researchers in pharmacy practice for comments on their relevancy, clarity, and essentiality. RESULTS: Among the target population sample size of 400 pharmacists were approached. Majority of the pharmacists in UAE (157/400, 39.3%) had 1-5 years of experience. Most of the participants (52%) have fair knowledge about warfarin and (62.1%) of them have fair counseling practices about warfarin. Hospital pharmacists have more knowledge than community pharmacists (Mean rank, Independent pharmacy: 166.30, Chain pharmacy: 138.01, Hospital pharmacy: 252.27, p<0.05) and they have better counseling practice than community pharmacists (Mean rank, Independent pharmacy: 188.83, Chain pharmacy: 170.18, Hospital pharmacy: 222.90, p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The study’s participants had moderate knowledge and counseling practices of warfarin. As a result, specialized training in warfarin therapy management for pharmacists is needed to improve therapeutic outcomes and avoid complications. Moreover, conferences or online courses should be held to train pharmacists on how to provide professional counseling to patients.