Survey of use of evidence-based drug therapy by pharmacists and pharmacy students

Abstract

Introduction: Evidence-based drug therapy is important for pharmacists intervention in patient care. This study aimed  to survey evidence-based drug  therapy used by pharmacists and pharmacy students  in Thailand. Materials  and Method: Questionnaires were  sent  to  pharmacists who were working  in  government  hospitals in 76 provinces (n=276) and to fourth to sixth year pharmacy students in 12 universities (n=244) Results: The response rate was 36.3% in the pharmacist group and 66.9% in the pharmacy student group. For the pharmacist group, their average age was 32.8 years and their working experience was 9 years. For the pharmacy student group, their average age was 22.9 years. Both pharmacists and pharmacy students had positive attitudes about the use of evidence-based drug therapy. The average knowledge score was 4.1 ±1.2 in pharmacists group and 4.1 ±0.9 in students from a total score of 5.0. Year 6 students had signifcantly higher scores when compared to year 5 and year 4 students (P<0.01). Diffculty in database access was the major barrier for pharmacists in using   evidence-based drug therapy (60.5%) while reading English publications was the major barrier for pharmacy students (55.7%). Conclusion: Pharmacists and pharmacy students have an acceptable level of knowledge and attitude of evidence-based drug therapy.