COMMUNITY PHARMACISTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD COLLABORATION WITH PHYSICIANS

Abstract

Objective: Healthcare providers play a key role in reducing medication errors and improving patient care, especially for those who suffer with chronic diseases. This study aims to assess pharmacist attitudes toward collaborative practice in northeastern Iran.Methods: A face-to-face survey was offered to a sample of 124 pharmacists in Mashhad, Iran, and some other cities of the Razavi Khorasan province. This survey assessed the following elements of community pharmacists’ collaborative behavior: “interactional determinants,” “environmental determinants,” and “pharmacist determinants.” Results were analyzed to determine how pharmacists’ attitudes and other variables would influence their collaborative behavior.Results: The survey response rate was 100%. Principal component analysis revealed that the attitudes towards collaboration instrument for pharmacists (ATCI-P) in our sample consisted of two factors: interactional determinants and pharmacist determinants, both with high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.83). The lowest and the highest scores in the interactional determinants domain were 19 and 35, respectively. The higher attitudes toward collaboration were obtained in the capital city, Mashhad, rather than in towns (P-value = 0.006). Multiple linear regression analysis of the complete model was significant (R = 0.36, P-value = 0.005). The age and city/community size were also found to be significant predictors of collaboration behavior (B = 0.300, p = 0.002 and B = 0.259, p = 0.004, respectively).Conclusion: The community pharmacists in Razavi Khorasan, Iran, have a profound attitude toward collaboration with physicians, and their collaborative behavior is influenced by the age and community size.