OBJECTIVES: To explore the National Survey of Clinical Pharmacy Practice in Saudi Arabia with an emphasis on the Education and Training

METHODS: It is a 4-months cross-sectional National Survey of Clinical Pharmacy Practice in Saudi Arabia. The study consisted of two parts; the demographic information and the second part contained fifty-one questions divided into four domains derived from American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and Saudi Pharmaceutical Society (SPS) survey, the international standard of Joint Commission of Hospital Accreditation in addition to the local standards of Saudi Center of healthcare accreditation. The four domains were clinical pharmacy administration, and management, performances and activities, education and training, and workload documentation. An electronic questionnaire distributed to the thirty-one directors of pharmacies. The study discussed and analyzed National Survey of Clinical Pharmacy Practice at MOH hospitals in Saudi Arabia: Education and Training.

RESULTS: The survey questionnaire distributed to 31 hospitals. The most qualifications educational courses for clinical pharmacy staff was Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) (74.19%) and Advance Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) (36.67%), while the least one was Advance Trauma Life Support (ATLS) (10.71%). The most educational courses had given to the general clinical pharmacist (89) and clinical pharmacist supervisor (22). The most type of education courses delivered to healthcare professional was Short education course 1-5 days 85 (47.22%) followed by Basic medication safety 60 (45.45%) and Clinical pharmacy orientation (41.67%), while the most educational and training delivered to healthcare providers by clinical pharmacist was General Nurses (108) followed by resident physician (66) and specialist physician (53).

CONCLUSIONS: The clinical pharmacy staff missed some primary education and training courses. Less than half of hospitals delivered education courses to healthcare care professionals. Targeting of both bilingual education and training facilities for clinical pharmacy staff and healthcare providers is highly recommended in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.