Collaborative attitudes between pharmacists and physicians in Brazil

Abstract

Pharmacist-physician collaboration is a strategy for optimizing patient care and improving health outcomes. Nevertheless, there is a lack of information in Brazil about collaborative practices among these professionals. The aim of this study was to measure collaborative attitude of pharmacists and physicians who were working together in a teaching hospital. A cross-sectional study was conducted from June 2018 to January 2019 with pharmacists and physicians working in a teaching hospital in Northeastern Brazil. These professionals were invited to provide responses to the Brazilian version of the "Scale of Attitudes Towards Pharmacist-Physician Collaboration" (SATP 2 C); their scores ranged between 16 and 64 points. The software Epi Info TM (version 3.5.4) was used for data analysis, and data were expressed in means. Forty-four professionals participated in this study. The mean age was 33.5 (DP = 7.1) years. More than half of participants were male (n = 25, 56.8%). The means from the SATP 2 C for pharmacists and physicians were 54.20 and 50.91, respectively, indicating good collaborative attitudes. There was no statistical difference between the mean scores of pharmacists and physicians. Participants showed a predisposition for collaborative teamwork. Future studies should focus on understanding the process by which collaboration translates into clinical practice.