Opinions of general practitioners regarding the roles of community pharmacists and their professional skills

Abstract

Introduction: Today, the role of community pharmacists in the health system in Iran is far removed from the professions with global definitions. To get out of this mode, we need to understanding the opinions of other medical sciences in term of pharmacists' proficiencies and their trainings for forward actions. Roles are assigned to competencies and competences are based on capabilities and skills. Aim: This pilot study aimed to explore the perceptions of medical practitioners towards the professional training and roles of community pharmacists. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to participants in medical retraining classes (N=160) in Tabriz city of Iran. The instrument contained questions to evaluate the practitioners’ level of agreement using a 5-point Likert type scale. Results: Of 160 practitioners, the respondents agreed that: community pharmacists are well trained to perform diagnosis of minor illness (65.5%). community pharmacists are the best healthcare professionals to educate patients about safe and appropriate use of medications (90%) and the best persons to advise practitioners on rational use of medicines (77.5%). The pharmacy profession have to undergo major changes to more patient oriented profession (90%). If the process of drug service transformation and Increasing the professional role of pharmacists takes place, they will work closely with the community pharmacists in monitoring patients’ pharmacotherapeutic outcomes (82.5%). Conclusion: Practitioners demand more responsibilities from pharmacists in health care system and they believe that pharmacists’ brighter role will help improve the health care system. Thus, suggesting potential collaborative care between practitioners and community pharmacists towards patient care and the needs to develop and incorporate topics on inter-professional relationship in the current medical and pharmaceutical education curriculums.