Background: As the COVID-19 Delta variant has spread across the globe, healthcare workers’ (HCWs) knowledge, worries, and vaccine booster acceptance should be assessed. Methods: Online questionnaires aimed at HCWs in Saudi Arabia were distributed between 9 and 12 August 2021, aiming to evaluate HCWs’ perceptions and worries about the Delta variant as well as their feelings about receiving a booster-vaccine. Results: A total of 1279 HCWs participated, with 51.1% being physicians and 41.7% nurses. 92.5% were aware of the emergence of the Delta variant. Still, only 28.7% were found to have sufficient knowledge of the variant, and their level of worry about it was higher than their level of worry about the Alpha variant (2.32/5 versus 1.79/5). The main information sources cited by the participants were social media (50.5%), while 30.5% used scientific journals. Overall, 55.3% were willing to receive a vaccine booster, while one third would have preferred to receive a new mRNA vaccine specifically developed for the Delta variant. Factors associated with vaccine booster acceptance were receiving both vaccination doses (p = 0.008), believing that the Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 vaccine is effective against variants (p < 0.001), and agreement that mixing/matching vaccines is effective against variants (p < 0.001). Conclusions: A high percentage of HCWs were aware of the Delta variant, but only a small fraction had decent quality of knowledge about it. The participants exhibited high worry levels and showed a modest acceptance of receiving a vaccine booster dose. These results should encourage public health officials to scale up educational efforts to disseminate reliable information about the different variants and provide recommendations about receiving a vaccine booster. Further research on methods to alleviate HCWs’ worries about emerging variants is warranted.
Over the past three decades, the pharmacy profession in Saudi Arabia has been evolving steadily in different areas of practice, particularly in clinical pharmacy. This evolution has resulted from the significant advancements made in clinical pharmacy education and training. From an educational perspective, the vast majority of newly established pharmacy schools have adopted the Doctor of Pharmacy degree instead of the Bachelor of Pharmacy degree. From a training perspective, there has been a massive expansion in the number of residency training sites. A significant advancement was declared when several Saudi pharmacy schools and residency training programs were able to meet the standards that were set forth and were similar to those available in the United States. This was achieved through certification and accreditation from well‐established accreditation bodies like the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education and the American Society of Health‐System Pharmacists. Currently, clinical pharmacists in Saudi Arabia have assumed advanced practice roles as a result of these advancements. Hence, there is a need to describe the advancing role of the clinical pharmacy practice model in Saudi Arabia. This paper will review clinical pharmacy education and training, its historical evolution, the current practice model, the challenges, and future perspectives in Saudi Arabia.
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