Knowledge of Physicians about Pharmacokinetics Services in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Objective: In this study, we aimed to assess the knowledge of pharmacokinetics in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional survey conducted to assess the knowledge of physicians about the pharmacokinetics services in Saudi Arabia. It is a self-reported questionnaire distributed in an electronic format to various physicians, including from interns to consultants and specialists in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The survey collected demographic information of the responders and their knowledge of selected pharmacokinetics elements in medical care such as resources of knowledge of pharmacokinetics elements in medical practice. We used 5-point Likert response scale system with close-ended questions to obtain responses. The data were collected through the Survey Monkey system and analyzed using various software such as Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS), Jeffery’s Amazing Statistics Program (JASP), and Microsoft Excel (version 16).
Results: A total of 259 physicians responded to the questionnaire. Of them, 107 (44.96%) were male and 131 (55.04%) were female responders, with non-statistically significant difference between them (p=0.120). Most of the responders were in the age group of 36–45 years (91 (37.30%)) and 46–55 years (85 (34.84%)), with statistically significant differences between all age groups (p=0.000). Most of the physicians were residents (74 (29.48%)), followed by specialists (69 (27.49%)) and interns (68 (27.09%)), with statistically significant differences between them (p=0.010). The average score was 3.50 for physician’s knowledge of pharmacokinetics services, with high scores obtained for the element knowledge of the concept of pharmacokinetics (4.12), the concept of therapeutic drug monitoring (3.67), and official standardized form for requesting pharmacokinetics services or drug levels (3.61), with non-statistically significant differences between the responses (p=0.313). The majority of the resources used for pharmacokinetic services by physicians were drug information resources (e.g., Micromedex, Lexicomp, and Epocrates; 128 (52.24%), and medical association literature/guidelines/recommendations (63 (25.71%)). We performed single test of reliability analysis using McDonald’s ω (0.897) and Cronbach’s (0.8878).
Conclusion: The knowledge of physicians about pharmacokinetics services was found to be inadequate in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Therefore, targeting undergraduate and postgraduates training and education of physicians about pharmacokinetics is highly recommended in order to improve clinical outcome of patients and to avoid unnecessary economic burden on the healthcare system in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.