Evaluation of pharmacy professionals' knowledge, attitude, and practice towards potential drug-drug interactions; a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: The use of multiple medications the increased risk of potential drug-drug interactions (PDDIs) (2, 3) and the prevalence of PDDIs in the world is high (4-6), and this is a consequence of the complex adverse drug effects (ADEs) (7-9). This work assessed pharmacy professionals’ ability to recognize clinically significant potential drug-drug interactions (PDDIs) as well as the information sources they use. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among pharmacy professionals in Ethiopia. A self-administered survey was created to assess pharmacists' familiarity with PDDIs and their preferred sources of PDDI information. We employed 16 drug pairs to assess pharmacists' awareness of drug-drug interactions. The regression model was run to look at potential PDDI knowledge predictors. Results: From 183 pharmacy professionals, practical questionnaires were collected. Allopurinol and pyrazinamide received a correctly classified range of 19.7%, whereas acetaminophen/codeine and amoxicillin received a correctly classified range of 66.01% from pharmacy professionals. Only four of the 16 medication pairings evaluated were accurately categorized by more than 50% of the pharmacy professionals. Internet or applications for mobile devices were the most frequently utilized sources by respondents (n = 66, 36.1%) to check PDDI data. Years of work experience and education level regarding PDDIs were found to be the most significant indicators of a higher number of recognized drug pairs in the multiple regression analysis. Conclusion: The results of our research showed that pharmacists are lacking in knowledge and practice towards PDDIs and years of experience and working institutions of participants had strongly associated with pharmacist professionals' knowledge of PDDIs.