Clinical Pharmacists’ Involvement in Pharmacogenomics Testing and Related Services in China

Abstract

Background: Pharmacogenomics (PGx) testing is increasingly used in clinical practice to optimize drug therapies. This study aims to understand the involvement of clinical pharmacists in PGx testing at tertiary hospitals in China and their self-assessed capacity to deliver such services. Methods: We developed a questionnaire exploring clinical pharmacists’ involvement and self-assessed level of capacity of performing PGx tests. A random sample was obtained from the Pharmaceutical Affairs Management Professional Committee of the Chinese Hospital Association. Results: A total of 1005 clinical pharmacists completed the survey. Of these, 996 (99.1%) had heard of PGx tests and 588 (59.0%) had been involved in PGx testing and related services. Some clinical pharmacists (28.9%) provided PGx services at the rate of “1–5 cases/year” while 21.9% of clinical pharmacists provided PGx services at the rate of “>30 cases/year”. Clinical pharmacists most frequently provided PGx testing for cardiovascular diseases. “Consult relevant guidelines/literature” (90.1%) was the most frequently used method to familiarize oneself with PGx testing. About 60% of the pharmacists considered themselves to have poor or fair capacity to provide PGx testing and related services. Conclusions: More than half of the pharmacists had been involved in PGx testing and related services. However, pharmacists generally had little confidence in their knowledge level of and capacity to provide PGx-related services.

Clinical Pharmacists’ Knowledge of and Attitudes toward Pharmacogenomic Testing in China

“…The survey contains 38 questions and takes an estimated 10–15 min to complete. The questionnaire has been mentioned in our previously published study [ 21 ]. In this paper, we report findings from the first and third sections (24 questions) of the survey, focusing on the attitude and knowledge of pharmacists.…”

Forging the path to precision medicine in Qatar: a public health perspective on pharmacogenomics initiatives

“…Similar study in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia showed that only 16% of the students could identify drugs that require PGx testing, but 36% students were willing to use PGx testing before prescribing drug ( 49 ). Surprisingly, a recent survey in China showed that 99.1% of pharmacists participated in the study knew about PGx testing and 59% had been involved in PGx testing related services ( 50 ). Similarly, with increased awareness and support, it is likely that PGx will be widely adopted in clinical practice in India in the future ( 51 ).…”

A national survey of individualized pharmaceutical care practice in Chinese hospitals in 2019

“…Frontiers in Pharmacology frontiersin.org doctor school year (Zhang J. et al, 2021). Hu et al also reported that approximately 60% of pharmacists believed they had poor or fair capacity to offer PGx testing and related services (Hu et al, 2022). In Japan, only 12.4% of pharmacists had received specific PGx-related education (Tsuji et al, 2021).…”