Assessment of Pharmacists’ Confidence When Consulting Patients on Anticoagulants: A Cross-Sectional Study in Iran

The pharmacists have a crucial role in providing pharmaceutical care to patients who receive anticoagulants. This study was conducted to evaluate the pharmacists’ confidence in pharmaceutical consultation in the field of anticoagulant therapy, identify their educational needs, and find their commonly used sources of medical information. In addition, their preferred method for future educations and specific areas of interest were assessed. 

This cross-sectional study was conducted between June 2018 and April 2019 among pharmacists involved in different areas of professional activity. They filled out an online questionnaire specifically developed to evaluate the aims of the study. The questionnaire was prepared in three parts including 6 questions about demographic information, 13 questions about confidence level, and 9 questions about the commonly used sources of medical information and educational needs of participants. 

At the end of the study, 229 pharmacists completed the questionnaire. The pharmacists’ confidence was significantly higher when advising patients on warfarin versus non-vitamin K antagonists oral anticoagulants (NOACs) (P=0.0001). More than 98% of participants acknowledged that additional education is required in the field of anticoagulation. Among the different educational methods, electronic learning (e-learning) was more attractive than others (P=0.0001). 

Pharmacists’ confidence was lower in providing pharmaceutical support on NOACs compared with other anticoagulants. Our findings suggest that additional educational courses are needed to enable pharmacists on the provision of anticoagulation care, preferably via e-learning methods.