• Mohamed Hassan Elnaem, Mohamad Haniki Nik Mohamed, Hasniza Zaman Huri, and Shah M Azarisman.
• Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia.
• J Eval Clin Pract. 2018 Jun 1; 24 (3): 521-527.

RationalePrevious research reported underutilization of statin therapy among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Improving health care providers' awareness and understanding of the benefits and risks of statin treatment could be of assistance in optimizing the statin prescribing process.Aims And ObjectivesThis study aimed to assess health care providers' knowledge related to statin therapy and the impact of educational outreach intervention based on the perceived knowledge.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study based on educational outreach intervention targeting physicians and pharmacists in 1 major tertiary hospital in the state of Pahang, Malaysia. Participants responded to a 12-item, validated questionnaire both prior to and after the outreach educational program. Two sessions were conducted separately for 2 cohorts of pharmacists and physicians. The knowledge scores prior to and after the educational intervention were calculated and compared using a paired-samples t-test.ResultsThe response rate to both pre-and post-educational outreach questionnaires was 91% (40/44). Prior to the intervention, around 84% (n37) of the participants decided to initiate statin therapy for both pre-assessment clinical case scenarios; however, only 27% (n12) could state the clinical benefits of statin therapy. Forty-five percent (n20) could state the drug to drug interactions, and 52.3% (n23) could identify the statin therapy that can be given at any time day/evening. The educational outreach program increased participants' knowledge scores of 1.450 (95% CI, 0.918 to 1.982) point, P < .0005, which is statistically significant. Forty respondents (91%) were of the opinion that statin side effects are the most common cause of treatment discontinuation.ConclusionThis work demonstrated the impact of an educational outreach intervention on improving health care providers' knowledge and beliefs about statin therapy. This type of intervention is considered effective for short-term knowledge enhancement. Further research is needed to test the long-term efficacy of such intervention.© 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

19 keywords...

hide…