Vaccination Knowledge, Attitudes, Perceptions, and Educational Needs of Pharmacists in Singapore: A Cross-Sectional Study.

IF 5.2 3区 医学 Q1 IMMUNOLOGY
Vaccines Pub Date : 2024-10-26 DOI:10.3390/vaccines12111219
Ally L Au, Deborah M Chia, Pei-Shi Ong
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Abstract

Background: Singapore's adult vaccination coverage is suboptimal, and this can be attributed to a lack of vaccination recommendations and misconceptions. Studies have explored pharmacists' vaccination knowledge, attitudes, and practice behaviour overseas but limited information about pharmacists in Singapore is available. This study aims to investigate pharmacists' vaccination knowledge, attitudes towards providing vaccination services, and their educational needs.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on pharmacists in various practice settings using an anonymous online survey.

Results: Pharmacists' vaccination knowledge (median: 2; IQR: 1-3), confidence in providing vaccination services (median: 6; IQR: 5-8), and frequency of providing vaccination services (median: 2; IQR: 1-3) were only average. However, 74.3% of pharmacists agreed that they play an important role as vaccine advocates. Apparent differences in knowledge level (p = 0.008), confidence level (p = 0.001), attitude (p < 0.001), and the frequency of educating patients (p = 0.001) and recommending vaccinations (p < 0.001) were observed among pharmacists from different practice settings. The main barriers identified were discomfort with giving injections (38.5%) and a lack of skills or knowledge (28.3%) at the point of survey.

Conclusions: Pharmacists see the importance of their role as vaccine advocates. However, their vaccination knowledge, confidence in providing vaccination services, and practice behaviours are only average due to inadequate training. Continuous professional education is required to increase pharmacists' readiness to provide vaccination services.

新加坡药剂师的疫苗接种知识、态度、观念和教育需求:一项横断面研究。
背景:新加坡的成人疫苗接种覆盖率并不理想,这可归因于缺乏疫苗接种建议和存在误解。已有研究对海外药剂师的疫苗接种知识、态度和实践行为进行了探讨,但有关新加坡药剂师的信息却十分有限。本研究旨在调查药剂师的疫苗接种知识、对提供疫苗接种服务的态度以及他们的教育需求:方法:采用匿名在线调查的方式,对不同执业环境中的药剂师进行了横断面研究:药剂师的疫苗接种知识(中位数:2;IQR:1-3)、提供疫苗接种服务的信心(中位数:6;IQR:5-8)和提供疫苗接种服务的频率(中位数:2;IQR:1-3)仅为平均水平。然而,74.3% 的药剂师同意他们作为疫苗倡导者发挥着重要作用。不同执业环境的药剂师在知识水平(p = 0.008)、信心水平(p = 0.001)、态度(p < 0.001)以及教育患者(p = 0.001)和推荐疫苗接种(p < 0.001)的频率方面存在明显差异。在调查中发现的主要障碍是注射不适(38.5%)和缺乏技能或知识(28.3%):结论:药剂师认为他们作为疫苗倡导者的角色非常重要。然而,由于培训不足,药剂师的疫苗接种知识、提供疫苗接种服务的信心和实践行为仅处于一般水平。要提高药剂师提供疫苗接种服务的意愿,需要持续的专业教育。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Vaccines
Vaccines Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics-Pharmacology
CiteScore
8.90
自引率
16.70%
发文量
1853
审稿时长
18.06 days
期刊介绍: Vaccines (ISSN 2076-393X) is an international, peer-reviewed open access journal focused on laboratory and clinical vaccine research, utilization and immunization. Vaccines publishes high quality reviews, regular research papers, communications and case reports.
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