Pharmacy Faculty Members' Perception of Contemporary Pharmacy Practice

Abstract

Objective: Previous research has shown that community pharmacists describe their role mostly in product-focused rather than patient-centred terms. We wondered if pharmacy faculty members think similarly, which might influence how students, and subsequently, new pharmacists think. The objective of this study was to examine how pharmacy faculty members describe the health care role of pharmacists. Method: We telephoned 101 randomly selected Canadian pharmacy faculty members. The surveyor posed as a sociology student studying the use of language. We asked a single question: “What does a pharmacist do?,” asking respondents to answer in a few short phrases that were recorded verbatim. Responses were analyzed by content and categories were established from previous studies, coded as “patient-centred,” “product-focused (dispensing),” “research” or “business-related.” Results: Ninety-four faculty members (71% were pharmacists) provided 200 responses. Of the responses, 40% were categorized as patient-centred, 32.5% were product-focused and 5% were research- or business-related. Evaluating participants' first responses, faculty members who were pharmacists offered a patient-centred description in 59% of responses, while non-pharmacists provided a more pro duct-focused description. The most frequently used terms to describe a pharmacist's role were: patient, medication, educate, dispense, responsible, safety and ensure. Conclusions: Pharmacy faculty members' perception of the role of pharmacists may influence the culture of the profession. We found that faculty members were more idealistic about patient-centred roles for pharmacists than community or hospital pharmacists, but a large proportion (mainly nonpharmacist faculty members) still describe a product-focused role.