Abstract
Objective: Optimal disease management is influenced by a solid patient-health provider relationship; which includes trust in the provider. The study compares respondents’ trust in pharmacists and physicians for the delivery of drug information.
 Methods: Residents of 3 rural communities in Lebanon, aged 40 and above, were invited to participate in the study, 760 accepted. Participants were asked who they trust the most with information about their medication: their physician or their pharmacist.
 Results: Of the total sample, 154 chose the pharmacist as their most trusted source of medication information (20%). Characteristics associated with choosing the pharmacist were: being a male (29.3% vs 16.2% p<.001), of younger age (31.5% among<50 y, 18.8% among 50-64 y, and 14.6% among 65+years p<.001), single (31.6% vs 21.9% married and 9.3 others, p=0.023), working (39.2% vs15.7% p<.001), and insured (2.3% vs 16.4% p=0.048). The multivariate logistic regression model revealed that having a family member with hypertension (OR=1.86 95% 1.23-2.82), or cardiovascular (OR=3.39 95%CI 1.55-7.45) increased the likelihood of trusting pharmacists over medical doctor. On the other hand, a self-report of cardiovascular disease (OR=0.34 95% CI 0.12-0.95) and taking medication (OR=0.41 95% CI 0.25-0.67) were associated with a decrease in the trust in the pharmacist in favor of the physician.
 Conclusion: Although pharmacists are the drug specialists, the majority of the Lebanese rural community residents reported higher trust in their physicians with information about their medication(s).
Highlights
Optimal disease management is strongly influenced by a solid patient-health provider relationship [1, 2]
Trust can be defined as a psychological state which consists of a relational notion between two people, such as the patient and their physician, pharmacist, or nurse; or between a person and an organization, such as the patient and a hospital, or a national health service [4]
In a study assessing patients’ barriers to asking pharmacists medication-related questions, 70% of respondents said they were unfamiliar with pharmaceutical care monitoring and screening services, and 45% said that their higher trust in their physician acted as a barrier towards asking their pharmacist drugrelated questions [8]
Summary
Optimal disease management is strongly influenced by a solid patient-health provider relationship [1, 2]. Trust can be defined as a psychological state which consists of a relational notion between two people, such as the patient and their physician, pharmacist, or nurse; or between a person and an organization, such as the patient and a hospital, or a national health service [4]. In a study comparing older adults’ trust in different healthcare providers, 80% of respondents reported trusting physicians “a lot” with drug effectiveness compared to 66.4% for trusting pharmacists [7]. In a study assessing patients’ barriers to asking pharmacists medication-related questions, 70% of respondents said they were unfamiliar with pharmaceutical care monitoring and screening services, and 45% said that their higher trust in their physician acted as a barrier towards asking their pharmacist drugrelated questions [8]
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