OBJECTIVES: To explore the pharmacist’s privilege in Saudi Arabia: pharmacist prescribing and therapeutic interchange

METHODS: It is a four months cross-sectional survey of pharmacist’s privilege in Saudi Arabia. The study consisted of two sections; in the first part, the demographic information and the second part contained twenty-eight questions divided into four domains derived from previous litterateur and American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) standard and regulation. The sections were privilege management and resources, pharmacist prescribing and therapeutic interchange, clinical and administration privilege, drug monitoring, and healthcare education. An electronic questionnaire distributed to the hospital pharmacy directors. The study discussed and analyzed pharmacist’s privilege in Saudi Arabia: pharmacist prescribing and therapeutic interchange. All analysis was done through survey monkey system.

RESULTS: The survey distributed to thirty-six hospitals. The pharmacist’s privilege for prescribing drug was found to be 12 (32.14%) in the hospital only. The most medications prescribed by pharmacist was OTC medications 19 (90.48%) and Vitamins 14 (66.67%) followed by minerals 11 (52.38%) and electrolytes 10 (47.62%) while through therapeutic interchange program the most medications prescribed were NSAIDs 23 (63.89%), Vitamins 19 (52.78%), electrolytes 17 (47.22%) and anti-histamine 15 (41.67%). The pharmacist prescribed medication through ambulatory care clinic 19 (52.78%), and prescriptions were co-signed by physician 19 (52.78%). The average of pharmacist’s privilege in the hospital computerized physician order entry (CPOE) was 3.17 (63.46%), while the average of pharmacist’s privilege in the hospital computerized physician order entry (CPOE) alerting system was 2.97 (59.46%).

CONCLUSIONS: The pharmacist’s privilege in prescribing was very low in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Most of the medications prescribed by the pharmacist were over the counter drugs. The electronic pharmacist’s privilege was not adequate. The implementation of the comprehensive pharmacist’s privilege system and regulations are highly recommended in Saudi Arabia.