Publication:

Attitudes and impediments of the implementation of clinical pharmacy services and pharmaceutical care in Ethiopia: a systematic review

Clinical pharmacy services are firmly established in many countries, associated with reduced adverse drug events, medication errors, length of hospital stay, mortality rates, and costs. However, implementation of clinical pharmacy is in its infancy in many developing countries including Ethiopia. The aim of this systematic review was to identify attitudes and factors influencing the implementation of clinical pharmacy services and pharmaceutical care in Ethiopia. A systematic review of published articles was conducted using databases such as PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus and Google scholar. A search was conducted from 01 July 2021 to 11 October 2021. The studies published in peer-reviewed journals in the English language, their full texts available and those done in Ethiopia were included. For this review, eleven articles were accepted and considered. From the included studies, about 52.6% of physicians and half of other health care professionals were of the opinion that pharmacists should concentrate on drug product and patient care should be left to other health care providers. Lack of clearly defined roles and responsibilities for the clinical pharmacists, lack of a support from the hospital management, lack of awareness, hesitance to have clinical pharmacists in the health care team, lack of proper communication and lack of incentives for the service are common factors influencing the implementation of clinical pharmacy services and pharmaceutical care.