Pharmacists' Attitudes and Role in Diabetes Management in Kuwait.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to measure pharmacists' attitudes toward management of diabetes, identify current levels of pharmacy service provided to patients with diabetes, and identify barriers for further provision of diabetes-related services.

Subjects And Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 198 pharmacists working in primary and secondary health care settings in one health region of Kuwait using a pretested self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, correlations, and comparative analysis were performed.

Results: The response rate was 84.4% (n = 168). Respondents had overall positive attitudes toward management of diabetes. Pharmacists regularly provided their patients with counseling on the appropriate time to administer their medications; however, services related to hypoglycemia and management of comorbid diseases were rarely provided. A negative correlation was found between the positive overall diabetes-related attitudes and pharmacists' involvement in providing the following diabetes-related services: glucose monitoring (r = -0.25, p = 0.001), comorbid disease management (r = -0.243, p = 0.001), and healthy living choices (r = -0.237, p = 0.002). The perception that some physicians and patients have of pharmacists as dispensers only was identified as the most important barrier to providing diabetes-related services.

Conclusion: Pharmacists have positive diabetes-related attitudes; however, they provide limited diabetes-related services to their patients. Barriers to provision of pharmacy services to patients with diabetes should be addressed to enable optimum patient care delivery.