The Provision of Wound Management Services by Community Pharmacists in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Objective: To investigate the current level of pharmacists’ wound management experience and their views onthis role in community pharmacies that provide pharmaceutical services within the Dubai health boundaries.Methods: A questionnaire-based survey.Results: There was a 92% response rate. 88% of the respondents reported that the pharmacy opening hours werebetween 14 to 16 hours per day. More than half of respondents, 60%, reported that they dealt with minor woundcases on a nearly daily basis, while 90% of the respondents reported that they had never seen major woundsduring their pharmacy practice. 43% of the pharmacists included in the study rated their understanding of woundcauses and management as either poor or fair. In response to how important they considered woundmanagement skills to be in the future of community pharmacy practice, 83% of the pharmacists rated it as eitherimportant or very important. Moreover, 62% of the respondents disagreed that wound management is only therole of doctors and nurses, and that pharmacists should be excluded from this role.Conclusions: Despite the evident poor knowledge of wound management amongst the pharmacists studied, 85%of the responding pharmacists showed remarkable willingness to be trained and better equipped for this role, anattitude that is worth encouraging. Furthermore, it was indicated that wound management should not only be arole for other health care professionals (doctors and nurses) but should be considered in any future training planfor pharmacists in the United Arab Emirates