Evaluation of students’ attitudes towards pharmacist–physician collaboration in Brazil

Abstract

Objective:To measure undergraduate pharmacy and medical students’ collaborative attitudes regarding Pharmacist–Physician collaboration.Methods:A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted from September 2016 to February 2017 in Northeast Brazil. Pharmacy and medical students from the first and the last year of courses were invited to complete Portuguese version of Scale of Attitudes Toward Pharmacist-Physician Collaboration (SATP2C). Descriptive and comparative analyses were performed using IBM SPSS (22 version). Differences were considered significant when p<0.05.Results:Three hundred seventy students completed the SATP2C. Overall, the students had positive attitudes towards physician-pharmacist collaboration. There was no significant correlation between age and score (p=0.79). Women showed a more positive collaborative attitude than men (53.1, SD=6.8 vs. 55.1, SD=6.3). Pharmacy students had a higher score than medical students (57.5, SD=4.7, vs. 51.1, SD=6.4). The first-year medical students had a higher score than last-year medical students (52.3, SD=6.0 vs. 49.5, SD=6.6; p<0.007). There was no significant difference in the attitudes between the first and last year pharmacy students (p<0.007).Conclusions:Pharmacy and medical students showed positive attitudes towards physician-pharmacist collaboration. However, pharmacy students presented more collaborative attitudes than medical ones. Additionally, the first-year medical students had more collaborative attitudes than last-year medical students. Studies should be conducted to provide recommendations to improve interprofessional education efforts to further enhance the positive attitudes toward physician-pharmacist collaboration.

Medical and Pharmacy Students’ Attitudes Towards Physician-Pharmacist Collaboration in Indonesia: A Case Study Approach

“…The results of other studies that show significant differences in physician-pharmacist collaboration attitudes were also shown in the results of research by Prado et al 12 . The study shows significant differences in the collaborative attitudes of medical and pharmacy students at Federal University of Sergipe, Brazil.…”

“…The study shows significant differences in the collaborative attitudes of medical and pharmacy students at Federal University of Sergipe, Brazil. Prado et al 12 also reported that pharmacy students [total attitude scale score median (SD) 57.5 (4.7)] had a significantly higher collaborative attitude than medical students [total attitude scale score median (SD) 51.1 (6.4)] (p=0.001).…”

“…points out that pharmacists' patient-centered approach was considered new and underdeveloped. New facts analyzed by Prado et al 12 . also show that pharmacists' role has not been fully implemented in Brazil, so medical students did not know about the role direction of the pharmacist profession.…”

“…Another factor that causes medical students' low level of collaboration attitude is the lack of "trust" in pharmacists' role. For example, Prado et al 12 . points out that pharmacists' patient-centered approach was considered new and underdeveloped.…”

Interprofessional Education in Health training in Brazil: Scoping Review

“…Studies from the years 2011 22 , 2013 23,24 , 2014 25 , 2015 3,[26][27][28] , 2016 10,[29][30][31][32] , 2017 [33][34][35][36] and 2018 5,14,[37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45] were selected.…”