Pharmacy profession and practice in Arabian gulf countries: challenges and opportunities

Background: With the onset of drug industries and medical guidelines, pharmacists' rule has become unsteady and ambiguous. Defining the role of the pharmacists was a big conflict, as in some regions the pharmacists are seen as drug experts practicing the pharmaceutical care principles declared by the American Pharmacist Association (APhA). While in other countries the pharmacists are still seen as a 'Dispenser'. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the Arabian Gulf community perspective on pharmacist's practice and their field. Method: A cross-sectional study conducted among Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) citizens and residents through an online survey consists of 18 close-ended questions. It distributed randomly in the period between the 7th of October 2018 and 23rd of November 2018. 839 completed surveys obtained. Results: pharmacists were highly accessible, and their services meet public expectations. Most of the GCC communities (67.22%) had a positive viewpoint toward the pharmacy profession as a reliable health profession. Among healthcare practitioners and non-healthcare practitioners, 72.12% and 72.58% respectively believed that the pharmacists have adequate experience and knowledge required to meet patient's interests and needs compared to 27.88% and 27.42% believe that they require more training and education. Surprisingly, 70.05% of the general population with no medical background and 55.29% with medical background prefer physicians as a source of drug-related information versus 26.31% and 39.4% respectively relay on the pharmacists. Conclusion: A gap between pharmacy services and the community has been noticed, which showed to affect pharmaceutical services quality. Although, with a high prevalence of the pharmacists, accessibility and accepted trust level, pharmacists still not the preferred professionals to be consulted in their specialty. Pharmacy profession in GCC countries still young and there are variable and achievable improvements to implement starting from educational and health authorities to monitoring bodies to the public awareness programs.