METHODS: Five pharmacy students in the last year of their studies polled employees of neighbourhood pharmacies in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and the Northern Emirates from April 2022 to July 2022. The study's questionnaire was divided into two sections: questions that inquired about the respondents' demographic data and questions that evaluated the respondents' understanding and usage of the deprescribing of potentially harmful medications for patients. The original Bloom's cutoff points were revised and modified to assess the general knowledge and deprescribing practices of United Arab Emirates (UAE) community pharmacists. Multivariate logistic regression identified the variables influencing respondents' deprescribing knowledge and practice.

KEY FINDINGS: The average age of the participants was 30.8 ± 6.4 SD. Of the total, 255 (37.7%) were male and 422 (62.3%) were female. Pharmacists from independent pharmacies constituted 52.9% of the study sample and 47.1% were from Chain pharmacies. Among the participants, 58.8% (n = 398) had 1-5 years of experience and 41.2% (n = 279) had more than 5 years. Nearly three-quarters of the pharmacists (72.1%, 488) graduated from local universities and 27.9% (n = 189) graduated from regional/international universities. The vast majority of the study sample (84.8%, 574) were bachelor's degree holders and 88.3% (n = 598) were pharmacists in charge. Of the total, 69.3% (n = 469) received deprescribing training to treat patients with multimorbid diseases. The knowledge and practice score was 71.3% with a 95% confidence interval [70.2%, 72.4%]. Of the total participants, 113 (16.7%) had poor knowledge and practice about deprescribing, 393 (58.1%) had moderate knowledge and practice and 171 (25.3%) had good knowledge and practice.