Abstract:
Background: Pharmacogenetics has a potential for
optimizing drug response and identifying risk of toxicity
for patients. Pharmacogenetics knowledge of
healthcare professionals and the unmet need for
pharmacogenetics education in health training institutions
are some of the challenges of integrating pharmacogenetics
into routine medical practice.
Aim: To assess pharmacogenetics knowledge among
healthcare professionals and faculty members of
health training institutions in Ghana.
Method: Semi-structured questionnaires were used
to interview healthcare professionals from selected
public and private hospitals. Faculty members from
health training institutions were also interviewed.
Results: The respondents were Medical doctors 42
(46.7%), Pharmacists 29 (32.2%) and Nurses 19
(21.1%). Healthcare professionals rated their
knowledge of Pharmacogenetics as Excellent 5
(5.6%), Very Good 10 (11.2%), Good 53 (60%) and
Poor 19 (21.4%). Thirty-two faculty members from
health training institutions were also interviewed.
Faculty members rated their knowledge of pharmacogenetics
as Excellent 2 (6.3%), Very Good 3
(9.4%), Good 9 (28.1%), Fair 12 (37.5%) and Poor 6
(18.8%). Thirty seven percent (12) of these faculty
members said pharmacogenetics was not part of their
institutions’ curriculum, 7 (22%) did not know if
pharmacogenetics was part of their curriculum and
only 13 (40.6%) said it was part of their curriculum.
Conclusion: Few healthcare professionals and faculty
members of training institutions are aware of the
discipline of pharmacogenetics. There is the need for
continuous professional education on pharmacogenetics
and development of competency standards
for all healthcare professionals in Ghana.