Introduction

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are one of key leading causes of mortality worldwide. Both modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors contribute to the development of CVD. Modifiable risk factors such as smoking, unhealthy diets and lack of exercise are increasing in prevalence in Saudi Arabia but may be mitigated using pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches. Thus, identifying, assessing and managing these modifiable risks at an early stage is essential. Pharmacists are highly accessible primary health professionals and can play a crucial role in screening and managing these risk factors in collaboration with primary care physicians. There is currently no research in Saudi Arabia exploring the views of health consumers with CVD risk factors regarding their preferences for or willingness to engage with community pharmacy CVD preventive health services.

Objectives

To explore the perceptions of health consumers about current and feasible future services by pharmacists with a specific focus on CVD risk screening and management in Saudi Arabia.

Methods

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with consumers with at least one modifiable CVD risk factor. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, translated into English and then thematically analysed.

Results

A total of 25 individuals, most of whom were Saudi (88%) and women (65%), participated in face to face interviews. Five main themes emerged from the analysis of consumers’ responses. 1. Perception of pharmacists’ role, the pharmacists’ main role was perceived as medication supply. 2. Trust and satisfaction with current service, most participants appeared to have low trust in pharmacists. 3. Preferences for future pharmacy services, most participants were willing to engage in future pharmacy delivered CVD preventive health services, provided there was stringent regulation and oversight of the quality of such services. 4. Viability of new pharmacy services was raised with promotion of such services to the public, collaboration with other health professionals, financial incentivization and motivational rewards thought of as essential ingredient to ensure service feasibility. 5. Health beliefs and help seeking behaviours of consumers were diverse and low health literacy was evident; it was thought that pharmacists can help in these matters by educating and advocating for such consumers. Overall, the data suggested that clinical, communication and professional skills need to be enhanced among Saudi pharmacists to enable them to provide optimal patient cantered services.

Conclusion

Health consumers participants were willing to participate and utilise CVD risk screening and management pharmacy-based services, when offered, provided their concerns are addressed. Therefore, in light of the burden of CVD disease in the country, development, implementation and evaluation of pharmacist provided CVD risk screening and management should be undertaken.

中文翻译：

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健康消费者参与在沙特阿拉伯心血管疾病中发展新型预防性健康社区药房角色：定性分析。

介绍

心血管疾病（CVD）是全球主要的死亡原因之一。可改变和不可改变的风险因素都有助于心血管疾病的发展。在沙特阿拉伯，吸烟、不健康饮食和缺乏锻炼等可改变的风险因素越来越普遍，但可以通过药物和非药物方法得到缓解。因此，在早期阶段识别、评估和管理这些可改变的风险至关重要。药剂师是非常容易接触到的初级卫生专业人员，可以与初级保健医生合作，在筛查和管理这些风险因素方面发挥关键作用。

目标

探讨健康消费者对药剂师当前和未来可行服务的看法，特别关注沙特阿拉伯的 CVD 风险筛查和管理。

方法

对具有至少一种可改变 CVD 风险因素的消费者进行了半结构化访谈。采访被录音，逐字转录，翻译成英文，然后进行主题分析。

结果

共有 25 人参加了面对面访谈，其中大多数是沙特人 (88%) 和女性 (65%)。对消费者反应的分析出现了五个主要主题。1.药师角色认知，药师的主要角色被认知为药品供应。2.对现有服务的信任和满意度，大多数参与者对药剂师的信任度较低。3.对未来药房服务的偏好，如果对此类服务的质量有严格的监管和监督，大多数参与者愿意从事未来的药房提供的 CVD 预防保健服务。4.新药房服务的可行性通过向公众推广此类服务、与其他卫生专业人员合作、财务激励和激励性奖励被认为是确保服务可行性的基本要素而提出的。5 、消费者的健康信念和求助行为多样化，健康素养低下；人们认为药剂师可以通过教育和倡导这些消费者来帮助解决这些问题。总体而言，数据表明沙特药剂师需要提高临床、沟通和专业技能，以使他们能够提供最佳的患者慢跑服务。

结论

健康消费者参与者愿意参与和利用基于药房的 CVD 风险筛查和管理服务，前提是他们的担忧得到解决。因此，鉴于国家心血管疾病的负担，应制定、实施和评估药师提供的心血管疾病风险筛查和管理。