Effect of Pharmaceutical Care Unit Activities on Health Personnel Knowledge in Shahid Beheshti Hospital in Kashan, Iran (2009-2010)

Pharmaceutical care unit of hospital structures are inalienable components and all activities related to medicine in the hospital must be done under the supervision of this unit. Regarding the importance of medical staff knowledge level about adverse drug reaction, this study was conducted to assess personnel knowledge and to estimate effectiveness of staff training about drugs. This prospective interventional study was conducted on 96 nurses in Shahid Beheshti hospital of Kashan, Iran. The nurse's knowledge level about rational drug prescription was evaluated before and after staff training via questionnaire by hospital pharmaceutical care unit. All participants in this study were nurses and 67 (70%) were at bachelor level. The majority of nurses knew little about the adverse drug reaction (ARD) and also pharmaceutical care unit. Medical books and doctors were known to be the only sources of information and consultation (66%). All nurses were trained by affective learning materials about drug information and the importance of pharmaceutical care unit in hospital. At the end of education, the results showed that all nurses believed consultation with the clinical pharmacist and hospital pharmaceutical care unit were best sources for getting drug information. Due to low awareness about drug administration in health personnel, it is necessary to increase their knowledge about drug administration and the necessity of drug consultation service for better collaboration between pharmacists and other health personnel in order to provide better health service.