Community pharmacists as patient advocates: physician attitudes

Abstract

Objectives: To assess physician attitudes toward community pharmacists acting as patient advocates with respect to drug-related matters, and to correlate physician attitudes with physician characteristics and physician-pharmacist interactions.

Setting: State of Utah.

Participants: Physicians in family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics, and psychiatry.

Interventions: Mail survey.

Main outcome measures: Physician attitudes toward community pharmacists performing 15 patients advocacy activities, as well as physician-pharmacist interaction and respondent demographics.

Results: Favorable attitudes were identified for pharmacists monitoring drug use, counseling patients, advising physicians, contacting physicians to discuss patients' pharmacotherapy, and recording over-the-counter product use in patient profiles. Attitudes were less favorable toward pharmacists helping patients manage adverse drug reactions, suggesting drug regimen alterations, providing health screening services, selecting drugs by a protocol, discussing therapeutic equivalents with patients, and changing dosage forms to better suit patient needs. Physician age was negatively correlated with attitude toward a pharmacist aiding a physician in selecting a drug to be prescribed. The helpfulness of physician-pharmacist interactions was positively correlated with physician attitudes.

Conclusion: From the physician's perspective, the most appropriate areas for expansion of the community pharmacist's role into patient advocacy are in monitoring pharmacotherapy, assisting physicians in coordinating pharmacotherapy, and providing patients with medication information. Physician resistance is more likely in areas where community pharmacists assume a more autonomous role in patient care.