Knowledge, perception and confidence of physicians and pharmacists at IIUM Medical Centre towards pharmacogenetics application in clinical setting

• Main Authors: Azmi, Diyana, Ghani, Nazifa Husna, Saadon, Nurul Syahirah, Raja Musa, Puteri Aimi Athirah, Rosmahidi, Rosfatina Farzana, Mohamed Nazar, Nor Ilyani
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English; English; English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: RM147 Administration of Drugs and Other Therapeutic Agents
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/78778/3/ICPRP2019%20programme%20book.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/78778/4/ID_216%20abstract.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/78778/14/Poster3_ICPRP.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/78778/
• Institution: Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia

Introduction: The importance of pharmacogenetics practices in hospital settings is to improve the patients’ treatment by maximising the therapeutic outcomes and reduce the adverse effect of the drug. In Malaysia, the acceptance of such an approach in the clinical setting has scarcely being evaluated. Objectives: This research aimed to assess the knowledge, perception & confidence of physicians and pharmacists at IIUM Medical Centre (IIUMMC) towards pharmacogenetics application in the clinical setting. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study with a set of validated questionnaires being distributed to the physician and pharmacist through a convenience sampling method. The data was further analysed using SPSS software. Results: Thirty-three participants among the physicians and pharmacists participated in the study. A majority of them perceived a very good knowledge with regards to pharmacogenetics where 57.6% rendered highly knowledgeable and 36.4% with a moderate understanding of the subject. As for perception, more than half of 33 respondents showed overall positive scores. This indicated that healthcare practitioners have a positive perception regarding pharmacogenetics and its implications. However nearly half of the respondents showed neutral perception when they were asked about the relevance of pharmacogenetics testing in the clinical settings. Furthermore, most of the respondents recorded a low level of self-confidence towards the implementation of pharmacogenetics in their healthcare settings with only 15.15% of the respondents claimed overall high self-confidence. Conclusion: Even though the majority of healthcare practitioners have high knowledge and good perception of pharmacogenetics, they still have low confidence towards the practice in a clinical setting.