An Investigation Into the Knowledge of South African Pharmacists on the Identification and Management of Drug-Drug Interactions

BACKGROUND: Detecting and reporting drug-drug interactions (DDIs) is an important role of pharmacists. Standard operating procedures (SOPs), that can be used to manage DDIs is not a requirement at pharmacies in South Africa. SOPs create standardized methods of identifying and reporting DDIs.

AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge of South African pharmacists on the identification and management of DDIs as well as the availability and use of SOPs in the detection and management of DDIs.

METHODS: A quantitative approach was used targeting registered pharmacists from two provinces in South Africa, namely Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. 153 responses were received after mailing the questionnaire to 200 pharmacists (76.5% response rate). Data was analysed by using Microsoft Excel® and SPSS® (version 23.0).

RESULTS: The majority (93.5%) of respondents were able to correctly define. Forty-four percent of respondents were aware of the existence of SOPs in their respective pharmacies. The majority of the respondents (80.4%) were of the opinion that having SOPs in place for the management of DDIs benefit the identification of these in the pharmacy environment. The findings indicated that availability and access of SOPs are the same across all sectors of pharmacy.

CONCLUSION: The results show that the majority of participants have a sound knowledge regarding DDIs as well as the importance of reporting them should such events occur. While most pharmacists were not aware of SOPs in their pharmacies, they regarded this as beneficial.