Clinical Pharmacists' Knowledge of and Attitudes toward Older Adults

Although pharmacy literature suggests that pharmacists have a positive attitude towards older adults, there is a paucity of studies that have measured pharmacists' knowledge or attitudes towards older people. The purpose of our study was to assess the knowledge and attitudes of hospital pharmacists toward older adults.

An electronic survey was distributed over two months to clinical hospital pharmacists across the province of Alberta, Canada. The survey was composed of two validated tools, the Palmore Facts of Aging Quiz (PFAQ) and Kogan's Attitude toward Old People Scale (KOPS). PFAQ is scored from 0 (poor knowledge) to 25 (high knowledge) and KOPS from 34 to 204, with higher than 119 indicating a positive attitude.

A total of 153 pharmacists completed the survey (response rate of 24%). The mean age was 39 (SD 10.8) years; the average years practiced was 15 (SD 11), and the majority of respondents (n = 65) reported that >50% of patients in their practice were geriatrics. The mean correct responses on the PFAQ were 18.8 (SD 2.6). KOPS had a mean score of 156.8 (SD 14), with only one pharmacist score falling below 119, indicating a negative attitude. There was a statistically significant, positive correlation between attitudes and knowledge (r = 0.38, p < 0.05), as well as the increasing age of the respondents (r = 0.18, p = 0.03). The remaining measured categories (i.e., gender, years of pharmacy practice) had no significant effect.

Clinical hospital pharmacists in Alberta have a positive attitude toward geriatric patients, as well as a satisfactory knowledge of older adults.