| Abstract [eng] |
Aim. To evaluate the attitude and knowledge of pharmacy specialists about the statins. Objectives. 1. To evaluate the knowledge of pharmacy specialists about the benefits and risks of statin use. 2. To evaluate the knowledge of pharmacy specialists about potential interactions of statins with other medications. 3. To determine when pharmacy specialists most commonly inform patients about the positive effects and potential adverse effects of statins. Methodology. The participants of the study are pharmacy specialists from the “Eurovaistinė” pharmacies. The object of the study is the attitudes and knowledge of pharmacy specialists about statins. The anonymous survey was conducted during the months of March to April 2024. The SPSS program was used for statistical calculations such tests as the Shapiro-Wilk test, Mann - Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, and Spearman's correlation were used to determine data normality and dependencies. Results. It has been determined that the knowledge of pharmacy about the effects of statins, their use and potential drug – drug interactions that may cause serious adverse effects is related to age and work experience – younger and less experienced pharmacy specialists showed better knowledge. It was found that pharmacy specialists obtain information about the effects of statins through self-study. Additionally, it was found that when prescribing statins for the first time or changing treatment, pharmacy specialists more frequently inform patients about the adverse effects, particularly younger and less experienced specialists. According to pharmacy specialists, on average, 6 out of 10 patients hesitate to start or continue statin therapy. Conclusions. 1. Pharmacy specialists have sufficient knowledge about the positive effects of statins. However, based on the results, pharmacy specialists have less knowledge about the risks caused by statins. Additionally, younger, and less experienced pharmacy specialists had more knowledge about the adverse effects of statins compared to older specialists. 2. Pharmacy specialists are best informed about the interaction of statins with itraconazole and St John's wort, less information had about interactions of atorvastatin with warfarin, and atorvastatin with macrolide group antibiotics, at least information had about amlodipine with simvastatin interaction. 3. Pharmacy specialists most commonly inform patients about the positive and negative effects of statins when statins are prescribed for the first time or when changing treatment. It was found that younger pharmacy specialists more frequently reported allocating sufficient time for consultation and more often stated that they inform about the effects of statins. |
