ROLE OF PHARMACISTS IN PROVIDING NUTRITIONAL SUPPORT TEAM (NST) IN MAKKAH HOSPITALS

Abstract

Total parenteral nutrition TPN preparation is an essential component of patient care in the clinical setting. Clinical pharmacists have a crucial role in the management of specialized nutritional support program and in the improvement of quality. However, the importance of their role in hospitals. Our aim is to investigate the role of clinical pharmacists in TPN preparation in Makkah hospitals, in addition to their involvement in nutritional support team at hospitals. Data were collected from seven hospitals in Makkah. Only pharmacists implicated in the TPN process have been eligible to fulfill the questioner. Descriptive statistics have been used to describe the clinical site, pharmacists and TPN process characteristics. All questioner papers have been signed from the concerned pharmacist and stamped from the hospital. Our preliminary results showed that the number of TPN pharmacists is limited in each hospital. Their role is to perform technical tasks mainly with a minimal role in patient education process. Most of TPN pharmacists have received a training sessions to be well-prepared for working in this field. A large number of pharmacists reclaims that other health care providers don’t help them providing direct patient care. Some of TPN pharmacists play an important role in monitoring the TPN administration process while others have not been implicated in this task. All of them would recommend the presence of nutritional support team (NST) in their hospitals although NST is not established in all hospitals included in this study. Our results have been compared to results from clinical studies done in other countries, Nevertheless, an emerging role for clinical pharmacists has been noticed through skills enhancement and removing barriers to pharmaceutical care practice.