Evaluating Patient Safety Culture in Iraqi Community Pharmacies

Abstract

Patient safety is the main issue in health care organization, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality defines it as, “freedom from accidental or preventable injuries produced by medical care. Thus, practices or interventions that improve patient safety are those that reduce the occurrence of preventable adverse events”. The purpose of this study was to evaluate Iraqi pharmacist perception about the culture of patient safety. As well as estimate whether safety is a principal issue in their pharmaceutical practice this study was carried out on 435 pharmacists who are working in community pharmacies in various Iraqi provinces. A survey was distributed via the internet during the period from May to June 2020. A community pharmacy questionnaire was used to evaluate the awareness of pharmacists regarding the culture of patient safety. A result of this study shows that the patient counseling field was the most positive one among the studied domains with score 68.8% of positive awareness and 70.4% of the pharmacists indicated that they inform patients with needed information about their new prescriptions. In contrast, staffing and work pressure scored the lowest positive response (36.55%). Although 66.7% of the participants stated they have the appropriate number of staff in their pharmacies to deal with the workload.

Status of Patient Safety Culture in Community Pharmacy Settings: A Systematic Review

“…Five studies [14][15][16]18,22 were conducted on pharmacists, whereas 6 studies (8 surveys) 17,[19][20][21]23,24 were carried out on all pharmacy staff members such as pharmacists, technicians, clerks, and pharmacy students on apprenticeship. Two studies (3 surveys) 17,18 originated from the United States, and the remainder were distributed as follows: Malaysia, 14 Kuwait, 15 United Arab Emirates, 16 Ethiopia, 19 Saudi Arabia, 20 Qatar, 21 Iraq, 22 Jordan, 23 and Singapore. 24 Eleven studies had response rates between 24.0% and 99.2%.…”

“…For additional analysis, 7 studies had performed comparative analysis and 2 studies 18,20 had performed multivariable logistic regression analysis. Among the 7 studies reporting comparative analysis, 5 studies compared PRRs according to the years of pharmacy practice, 14–16,21,22 and senior respondents showed a trend of higher PRRs for “teamwork,” “staff training and skills,” “staffing and work pressure,” “response to mistakes,” and “organizational learning–continuous improvement.” Specifically, senior staff members showed more positive responses to “staff work together as an effective team,” “technicians in this pharmacy receive the training they need to do their jobs,” “staff ideas and suggestions are valued in this pharmacy,” “we have enough staff to handle the workload,” and “when the same mistake keeps happening, we change the way we do things” items in more than 2 studies 14–16,19,21–23 . Studies from Kuwait, 15 Saudi Arabia, 20 and Qatar 21 categorized participants according to working hours.…”

“…[39][40][41] Moreover, as several cross-sectional studies using CPSPSC have been conducted to assess the status of patient safety culture in community pharmacies, it is difficult to identify the global status as most of them are conducted in a specific region or country. [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] This systematic review was the first to explore patient safety culture in community pharmacies worldwide.…”

“…13 Although several cross-sectional studies using CPSPSC have been conducted, it is difficult to determine the global status because most of them are conducted in a specific region or country. [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] Understanding the global status is important in setting the future direction of development in terms of patient safety culture of community pharmacies.…”

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Patient Safety Culture: A Cross-Sectional Study among Community Pharmacies in Jordan

“…Therefore, community pharmacies have continuously attempted to improve the quality of health and pharmaceutical care services provided to patients, focusing on optimizing patient safety and decreasing unintended mistakes during healthcare delivery. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, several studies assessed patient safety culture in community pharmacy settings both internationally and regionally [ 17 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ]. Previous research has identified organizational breakdown, insufficient staffing, increased production pressures, and provider fatigue as factors contributing to poor patient safety [ 29 , 30 ].…”