The College of Pharmacy discussed the MSc thesis entitled “Impact Of Hospital Pharmacist-Led Educational Program on The Knowledge, Adherence, and Self-Care Practices among Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients” by the student Sarah Waheed Mawlood and the supervisors Assist. Prof. Dr. Mohammed Yawuz Jamal, at the clinical pharmacy Department and Prof. Dr. Faiq Isho Gorial , a faculty member at the College of Medicine , University of Baghdad.
The study aimed to evaluate the impact of pharmaceutical intervention on improving medication adherence, disease-related knowledge, self-care practices among patients with rheumatoid arthritis, as well as to assess patients’ satisfaction with the intervention provided.
The study included a quasi-experimental educational study using a one-group pretest–posttest design was conducted among patients with rheumatoid arthritis receiving treatment at the Department of Joint Diseases and Rheumatology, Baghdad Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, from December 2025 to April 2026. A convenience sampling method was used to recruit patients who had been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis by a specialist physician at least six months before enrollment. The General Medication Adherence Scale (GMAS), a self-care questionnaire, a newly developed disease knowledge questionnaire were used to assess medication adherence, self-care practices, disease-related knowledge before and after the pharmaceutical intervention.
The results showed that a total of 98 patients participated at the beginning of the study, of whom 75 completed the post-intervention assessment and were included in the final analysis. The pharmacist-led educational intervention significantly improved medication adherence, disease-related knowledge, self-care practices among patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The qualitative analysis identified three major themes: the benefits of the educational program, barriers limiting patients’ ability to benefit from it, and patients’ recommendations. All participating patients reported a high level of satisfaction with the educational program.
The study recommended integrating clinical pharmacists into the healthcare team providing care for patients with rheumatoid arthritis to enhance health education and medication counseling. It emphasized the importance of adopting pharmacist-led educational sessions as an essential component of routine healthcare for all patients. The use of visual educational materials, such as videos developed under specialist supervision, was recommended to ensure the delivery of accurate and reliable health information. Furthermore, expanding these educational programs to include other diseases was recommended to improve patient health outcomes ,enhance the quality of healthcare.
