Opinions of primary health care centres' doctors in Bahrain on the electronic software for checking drug interactions in their prescriptions

Abstract

Background: An electronic software for checking drug interactions is available at primary health centers in Bahrain. However, it is unclear whether it is optimally utilized by the prescribers. Aims: We aimed to explore physicians’ attitudes towards the use of the drug interactions checker. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Data was collected from 18 primary healthcare centres in Bahrain (75%). Primary healthcare physicians responded to a self-administered survey, which was comprised of Likert-type questions. Results: The majority of participants (n=126) were specialist family physicians (91.3%), while the rest were general practitioners (8.7%). Most physicians wrote more than 30 prescriptions in a typical working shift (92.7%); more than half of them contained a combination of drugs (81.5%). Most physicians checked for interactions when prescribing a drug combination (86.9%). Most doctors believed that they had adequate knowledge of drug interactions (73%). However, around one quarter of them were not sure if they would be able to manage them (24%). Although most physicians used the available electronic software (83.9%), many of them relied on their memory to check for interactions (43%). Duration of practice experience, rather than specialization, was correlated with self-reported knowledge (P< 0.001) and ability to manage interactions (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Although most physicians used the software, a significant proportion of them depended on their prior knowledge to identify drug interactions. The importance of optimal use of the software to ensure reliable drug interaction management should be emphasized to the physicians.