Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2017

College/Unit

School of Pharmacy

Department/Program/Center

Clinical Pharmacy

Abstract

Objective : To assess and compare the attitudes of medical and pharmacy students towards physician - pharmacist collaboration and explore their opinions about the barriers to collaborative practice in Kuwait. Methods : A cross - sectional survey of p harmacy and medical students (n=467) was conducted in Faculties of Medicine and Pharmacy, Kuwait University. Data were collected via self - administered questionnaire from first - year pharmacy and medical students and students in the last two professional yea rs of the pharmacy and medical programs. Descriptive and comparative analyses were performed using SPSS, version 22. Statistical significance was accepted at p < 0.05. Results : The response rate was 82.4%. Respondents had overall positive attitudes toward s physician - pharmacist collaboration. Pharmacy students expressed significantly more positive attitudes than medical students (p< 0.001). Medical students rated th e three most significant barriers to collaboration to be: pharmacists’ separation from patien t care areas (n=100, 70.0%), lack of pharmacists’ access to patients’ medical record (n=90, 63.0%) and physicians assuming total responsibility for clinical decision - making (n=87, 60.8%). Pharmacy students’ top three perceived barriers were : lack of pharmac ists’ access to patients’ medical record (n=80, 84.2%), organizational obstacles (n=79, 83.2%), and pharmacists’ separation from patient care areas (n=77, 81.1%). Lack of interprofe ssional education was rated the fourth - largest barrier by both medical (n=7 9, 55.2%) and pharmacy (n=76, 80.0%) students. Conclusions : Medical and pharmacy students in Kuwait advocate physician - pharmacist collaborative practice, but both groups identified substantial barriers to implementation. Efforts are needed to enhance under graduate/postgraduate training in interprofessional collaboration, and to overcome barriers to physician - pharmacist collaboration to advance a team approach to patient care.

Source Citation

Katoue MG, Awad AI, Al-Jarallah A, Al-Ozairi E, Schwinghammer TL. Medical and pharmacy students’ attitudes towards physician-pharmacist collaboration in Kuwait. Pharmacy Practice 2017Jul-Sep;15(3):1029.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.