PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIANS’ KNOWLEDGE TOWARD PHARMACOGENETICS IN JORDAN

Abstract

Objective: Pharmacogenetics plays a major role in personalizing the pharmacotherapy. However, it isn’t widely practiced in the clinical healthcare centers in many countries, including Jordan. The present study aimed to assess pharmacogenetics knowledge among primary care internists from different public and private Jordanian hospitals. Methods: A structural questionnaire, covering the basic background information and attitude toward pharmacogenetics practice, was distributed among 300 primary care internists in six hospitals in Amman, Zarqa and Karak cities between January to March 2017. Results: The response rate was 63.3%. The majority of internists responded that pharmacogenetics is important in reducing the unwanted drugs side effects (64.21%) and enhancing the efficacy of the treatment (62.11%). The majority of the respondents (80%) believe that pharmacogenetics will be relevant to the clinical practice if it is applied in Jordan. Most of the internists responded that laboratory pharmacogenetics tests are not available (48.94%) and not covered by medical insurances (69.47%). Conclusion: It is concluded from the results of this study that most of the primary care internists in Jordan know the clinical importance of pharmacogenetic testing but it is still not widely practiced; due to the absence of cost-effective genotyping tests and medical insurances covering the pharmacogenetic tests in Jordan. Further intensive studies are needed to find the possible ways of encouraging medical doctors to practice the pharmacogenetics in Jordan.