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Objectives This study aimed to evaluate published original studies in Saudi Arabia about knowledge, attitude, roles and practices of community pharmacists in providing patient‐centred care services. Methods Systematic searching of original studies published between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2017 using electronic databases: PubMed, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, Scopus, Science Direct, Cochrane Library, TRiP database, Springer Link and Google Scholar. Studies were included if they outlined community pharmacist's knowledge, role, attitude and professional practice behaviours towards patient‐centred care provided by pharmacists alone or in collaboration with other healthcare professional (s). The studies were identified, and data were extracted independently by two reviewers. The modified Newcastle‐Ottawa scale for cross‐sectional studies was used to assess the quality of each study. Key findings Twenty‐four original studies conducted in Saudi Arabia were included. Majority of studies were questionnaire‐based surveys (62.5%). One quarter of the studies investigated knowledge, roles and attitude of community pharmacists about irrational dispensing and prescribing of antibiotics and prescription only medicines. Included studies highlighted numerous gaps in knowledge, attitude, roles and practices of community pharmacists in Saudi Arabia in providing efficient patient‐centred care services. Lack of knowledge and time, absence of pharmacy information database, deficiency of continued professional development training, unavailability of adverse drug reaction reporting forms and professional and cultural issues were some of the barriers in providing patient‐centred care. Conclusions The studies showed that although community pharmacists in Saudi Arabia do provide medicine counselling and other patient‐centred care services; however, these services need substantial improvement. This review may be useful for policy makers, regulators, pharmacy educators and researchers in understanding the work being performed in the community pharmacy setting in Saudi Arabia.

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Background Older individuals are seemingly having more medical conditions, which predispose them to a greater risk of polypharmacy. Potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs), including those having anticholinergic and sedative properties, are common in their prescriptions, often associated with functional decline and negative health outcomes. Thus, this study reports proportions of inappropriate drugs and drug burden exposures and its correlation with patient‐reported outcomes (PROs) among cognitively intact older adults admitted to a ward or visiting the outpatient clinic at a tertiary care hospital in Malaysia. Methods This cross‐sectional study included data from 344 older (173 inpatients and 171 outpatients) patients, aged 60 years and above, through validated questionnaires. Medication appropriateness was assessed via Medication Appropriateness Index (MAI) tool, whereas Beers and Screening Tool of Older Person's Potentially Inappropriate Prescribing (STOPP) criteria were used to evaluate PIMs and potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP), respectively. The Drug Burden Index (DBI) and polypharmacy, as well as PROs, included Groningen Frailty Indicator (GFI), Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living (Katz ADL) and Older People's Quality of Life (OPQOL) were also evaluated. Results Overall, inpatients received significantly higher medications (6.90 ± 2.70 vs 4.49 ± 3.20) than outpatients. A significantly higher proportion of inpatients received at least one PIM (65% vs 57%) or PIP (57.4% vs 17.0%) and higher mean MAI score (1.76 ± 1.08 and 1.10 ± 0.34) and DBI score (2.67 ± 1.28 vs 1.49 ± 1.17) than outpatients. Inpatients had significantly higher total OPQOL (118.53 vs 79.95) and GFI score (5.44 vs 3.78) than outpatients. We only found significant correlations between GFI and DBI and total OPQOL and the number of PIMs. Conclusions Proportions of PIMs and DBI exposure were significantly higher in an inpatient setting. No significant correlations between exposures to inappropriate medications or drug burden and PROs were observed.

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Background Demand for diabetes care and prevention has increased due to Saudi Arabia’s high prevalence of diabetes mellitus and its insufficient treatment. This raised awareness of the significance of community pharmacists in Saudi Arabia, who may significantly improve diabetes treatment by setting up pharmacist-led diabetic clinics. Thus, to assess community pharmacists’ readiness to lead diabetes clinics in Saudi Arabia, this study evaluated the usefulness of an educational session on diabetes care. Method The preparation of community pharmacists for diabetes treatment and management was assessed using a validated diabetes-specific questionnaire. An engaging and thorough diabetes education class was presented by two licensed diabetes educators. One-way ANOVA, chi-square, and the Mann–Whitney U-test were used to statistically assess the pre- and post-knowledge and attitude scores of community pharmacists. Results Following a learning session, the community pharmacists had a significant increase in understanding oral hypoglycemic medicines, monitoring the disease’s course, and dosing of insulin for diabetics (p = 0.01). Additionally, the community pharmacist’s perspective and attitude score on managing diabetes increased from 49.74 to 52.74 (p = 0.01). Conclusion The study’s findings demonstrated a marked improvement in community pharmacist’s knowledge of and attitude toward running pharmacist-led diabetic clinics following a session on diabetes education in collaboration with the Pharmacy College. The study’s findings also emphasized the significance of developing a structured programme for diabetes education in Saudi Arabia to address the demands of community pharmacists in terms of professional development.