Analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of Clinical Pharmacy Services at National cancer Institute-Sudan

Abstract

Background: Pharmaceutical care services are focused on the patient and aim to improve rational medication usage potentially enhancing therapeutic effects in each specific patient and having a good effect on patients' outcome. The service is in infancy in Sudan, and there is a dearth of impartial evidence of its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. As a result, the objective of Sudan's first attempt was to conduct a situational analysis of clinical pharmacy services at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) using the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats framework (SWOT). Methods: A qualitative study was performed at the NCI from the 1st to the 30th of March, 2021. An in-depth interview was designed, semi-structured interviewing guide was adopted to investigate participants views on clinical pharmacy services; the data was then analyzed after categorizing all responses from participants using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). Results: The existence of established clinical pharmacy services in the institute, as well as the managers' interest and willingness to support and assist the services, and a good collaborative working relationship between pharmacists and physicians, were identified as major strengths. Whereas the lack of adequate facilities and equipment, as well as hospital management's weak evaluation mechanism, were identified as major weaknesses. Aside from these internal factors, , all Sudanese hospitals were selected as having potential due to a rise in the number of qualifying clinical pharmacists and because the country has clinical pharmacy postgraduate programs, which considered the opportunities of implementing clinical pharmacy services. However, a threat arose from the responsible body's inadequate coverage of the service's promotion. Conclusion: The analysis revealed that clinical pharmacy services at the studied hospital had roughly 11 constraints (weaknesses and threats). To strengthen the services, the hospital intends to extend and implement the services across all wards, as well as to support clinical pharmacy experience exchange programs with other model hospitals