Pharmacogenomics-based practice in North Cyprus: its adoption by pharmacists and their attitudes and knowledge

Background Pharmacogenomics is a branch of biotechnological science integrating medicine, pharmacology, and genomics techniques. Moreover, it focuses on creating drug therapies in order to analyze genetic differences in patients causing various responses to a single therapeutic regimen. Objective This cross sectional study aimed to examine the attitude, knowledge and adoption among pharmacists in North Cyprus and the most appropriate method to improve education among them. Setting Community pharmacy setting. Method A total of 103 out of 140 pharmacists responded to a pre-tested and validated questionnaire consisting of 25 items during July through September 2016. Main outcome measure Pharmacists attitude, knowledge and adoption towards pharmacogenomic tests. Result Data showed that most of the pharmacists in North Cyprus had positive attitude and knowledge scores with mean value of 28.3 ± 5.3 (out of 40) and 6.9 ± 0.8 (out of 10) respectively, further findings showed that there is a significant difference among age groups in their total attitude score (p < 0.05). Conclusion Even though pharmacogenomics is a field promising a variety of benefits, it is vital to implement it in clinical settings in order to improve outcomes. Our findings highlight the necessity for more education on the availability and interpretation of pharmacogenomics tests.