Collaboration between pharmacists and general practitioners in the health care system in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Abstract

Collaboration between pharmacists and general practitioners (GPs) has been shown to enhance patient care and outcomes. The aim of the present study was to investigate the collaborative working relationship between pharmacists and GPs in terms of their attitudes, role perceptions, experience with collaborative practice, preferred method of communication, areas of current and further collaboration, and perceived barriers to interprofessional collaboration in a sample of the Iranian population. We distributed 318 questionnaires to community pharmacists and GPs in Tehran. Both groups had a positive attitude towards collaboration; however, about half the respondents reported only occasional collaborative practice. Both groups preferred communication by telephone or face-toface communication by fax or letter. Few current areas of collaboration were identified; however, an area favoured by both groups was "decision-making for patients' pharmacotherapy". The two groups expressed concern about possible fragmentation of patient care with the involvement of multiple health care providers, and perceived lack of face-to-face communication as a possible barrier to collaboration.