Physicians’ perceptions, expectations, and experience with pharmacists at Hamad Medical Corporation in Qatar

Abstract

Objectives:The purpose of this study was to investigate the physicians’ perceptions, and expectations of their experiences with the pharmacists at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) in Qatar.Method:A cross-sectional study was conducted at HMC between January and March 2006 using a validated questionnaire. The self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 500 physicians who were working at HMC comprising Hamad General Hospital, Women’s Hospital, Rumaila Hospital, Al-Amal Hospital, Al Khor Hospital, and primary health centers. The questionnaire was composed of four parts, investigating the physicians’ expectations, experiences, and perceptions of the pharmacists.Results:A total of 205 questionnaires were completed (response rate 41%). A total of 183 physicians (89%) expected the pharmacist to educate patients about safe and appropriate use of drugs, whereas 118 (57%) expected the pharmacist to be available for health-care team consultation during bedside rounds. The indices of physicians showing how comfortable they were with pharmacists, and their expectations of pharmacists, were 61% and 65%, respectively, whereas the index on experience of physicians with pharmacists was lower (15%).Conclusions:Physicians were comfortable with pharmacists and had high expectations of pharmacists in performing their duties. However, physicians reported a poor experience with pharmacists, who infrequently informed them about the effectiveness of alternative drugs, patients experiencing problems with prescribed medications, and who took personal responsibility to resolve any drug-related problem.

Perceptions, Experiences and Expectations of Physicians Regarding the Role of the Pharmacist in an Iraqi Hospital Setting

“…Most Iraqi physicians were comfortable or moderately comfortable with pharmacists deleting prescriptions to prevent prescription errors, treating minor illness, and suggesting the use of prescription medication to the physician. A similar result was reported among physicians in Qatar and Sudan [13,14]. The results of this study suggest that Iraqi physicians are willing to accept the new patientoriented role of pharmacists.…”

“…The questionnaire used in this investigation was adapted with minor modifications from previously published studies [12][13][14][15]. The questionnaire was composed of four sections: Section 1(A) requested demographic information such as age, gender, place of work, current position and area of specialization, qualification year, and country of graduation.…”

“…The results varied from physicians being comfortable with pharmacists providing a broad range of services [12,13] to being uncomfortable even in the case of suggestions for minor illnesses [14,15]. The aim of this study was to evaluate physicians' perceptions expectations and experiences with pharmacists' professional services in Iraqi government hospitals.…”

Perceptions and Satisfaction of Pharmacy Staff towards the Orientation Program at the Specialized Hospitals in Qatar: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…In 2006, a research was conducted in Qatar by Zaidan et al and among its aims was to investigate the physicians' perceptions, and expectations of pharmacists at HMC [11]. This study showed that physicians have high expectations of pharmacists in performing their duties; however, the physicians reported a poor experience with pharmacists in terms of resolving drug-related problems.…”

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“…A better interaction between physicians and pharmacists has led to safer, more effective and less costly drug therapies. Several studies on pharmacist-physician collaborations have proven that direct patient care is still exclusively in the hands of physician 4 .…”