Background: Clinical pharmacy service has evolved steadily over the past few decades and is contributing to the\nââ?¬Ë?patient care journeyââ?¬â?¢ at all stages. The service improves safety and effectiveness of medicines, thereby avoiding\nmedication errors. As part of this global shift in pharmacy education and practice, Ethiopian Universities revamped\nthe undergraduate pharmacy curriculum and the first graduates came out in July 2013. These graduates were\nimmediately deployed in public hospital settings, with the ultimate aim of providing clinical pharmacy services. As\nsuch an initiative is new to the Ethiopian pharmacy sector, there is a need to do assessment of the health care\nprovidersââ?¬â?¢ perception and satisfaction towards the service.\nMethods: A cross-sectional survey using self-administered questionnaire was conducted in six regions and one-city\nadministration of the country. Physicians, Health officers and Nurses working along with the new pharmacy\ngraduates formed the study population. A total of 650 healthcare professionals participated in the study. Data were\nentered, cleaned and analyzed using appropriate statistical tools.\nResults: Majority of the health care providers agreed that clinical pharmacy service could have a significant\ncontribution to the patient care. A large proportion of them (70ââ?¬â??90 %) had a positive attitude, although there\nappeared to be some differences across professions. About 50 % of the professionals were of the opinion that\npatient care should be left to the health care providers and pharmacists should concentrate on drug products. In\naddition, the same proportion of respondents said that the setup in their respective hospital was appropriate for\nprovision of clinical pharmacy service. Multivariable analysis indicated that attitude of the health care providers was\nsignificantly associated with year of experience.\nConclusions: A large proportion of the health care providers had positive attitude towards the service, although\nthe extent of the service was below their expectation. Hence, efforts should be in place to organize continuous\nprofessional training for pharmacists and awareness creation forums for other healthcare professionals.
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