Research Article | Volume : 2 Issue : 2, February 2012

Insights into the Nurse's Knowledge and Clinical experience of Polypharmacy in Ajman, UAE

Lisha Jenny John,  Mohamed Arifulla,  Jayakumary Muttappally Myalil,  Jayadevan Sreedharan,  Jenny John Cheriathu,  Arun Shirwaikar,  Mohammed MohAhmed Fathi   
Lisha Jenny John1, Mohamed Arifulla1, Jayakumary Muttappally Myalil2, Jayadevan Sreedharan2, Jenny John Cheriathu3, Arun Shirwaikar4, Mohammed MohAhmed Fathi5

1Department of Pharmacology, Gulf Medical University, Ajman, UAE.

2Research Division, Gulf Medical University, Ajman, UAE.

3Department of Pediatrics, Gulf Medical College Hospital &Research Centre, Ajman, UAE.

4College of Pharmacy, Gulf Medical University, Ajman, UAE.

5Department of Cardiology, Gulf Medical College Hospital &Research Centre, Ajman, UAE.

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Abstract

The specter of polypharmacy is an ever-increasing problem. Nurses play a functional role in assisting patients to understand the dangers of polypharmacy. Nurse’s knowledge and their experience of polypharmacy in their nursing practice are determined in the study. Nurses working in Gulf Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Ajman, United Arab Emirates participated in this cross-sectional study (March-May 2011). A Self-administered structured questionnaire was used to obtain data. Chi-square test was performed to find the association between variables under study using PSAW software. A total of 105 nurses participated (92 female nurses; 13 male nurses). The definition of polypharmacy was correctly identified by only 45.7% nurses. 66% identified elderly population as the common age group exposed to polypharmacy; while 22.9% nurses opined that it is common in all age groups. 66.7% of the nurses acknowledge their non awareness of rational and irrational polypharmacy. The common reason for practice of polypharmacy was use of multiple drugs to manage multiple disease conditions. The knowledge of polypharmacy is inadequate among the nurses though they have experience of polypharmacy. Working knowledge of rational polypharmacy is essential among the nursing community to reduce the practice of polypharmacy.


Keyword:     Polypharmacyknowledgeexperiencenursesrational polypharmacy

Copyright:The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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