Perceptions Regarding Occupational Health and Safety Attitudes of Hospital Pharmacists in Ambulatory Care in Pakistan

Background: Standards for assessing and monitoring occupational health risks and safety measures for hospital pharmacists have been given prime importance in developed countries. However, occupational health and safety has often been neglected in developing countries. Lack of knowledge, poor training practices and insufficient resources are few of the reasons behind poor occupational health standards.

Objective: The objective of the study was to assess perceptions regarding occupational health and safety attitudes of hospital pharmacists in ambulatory care in Pakistan.

Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used. The study respondents included hospital pharmacists working in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Sample size was calculated to be 382 to achieve 95% confidence level with 5% margin of error. Convenient sampling technique was used to select respondents. A pre-validated tool Safety Attitudes Questionnaire-Ambulatory Version was used. Data was coded and analyzed using SPSS 21 after collection. Descriptive statistics comprising of frequency and percentages were calculated. Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis (p ≥ 0.05) tests were applied according to different demographic variables.

Results: Significant difference (p<0.05) was observed in perceptions of occupational health and safety attitudes in ambulatory care among respondents of different genders, cities, education level, age groups, experience, setting and salary. Females had poor safety attitudes in ambulatory care as compared to male respondents. Respondents having experience between 1-5 years had poor safety attitude as compared to other respondents. Respondents working in private sector had poor occupational health and safety attitudes as compared to those working in public sector.

Conclusion: The present study concluded that hospital pharmacists working in ambulatory care had satisfactory occupational health and safety attitudes. Respondents agreed that they had made errors due to workplace pressures and workload. Trainings should be conducted to improve the occupational health and safety attitudes of hospital pharmacists in ambulatory care.