Abstract
Background To provide better patient care, it is very important for the physicians to be willing to accept clinical pharmacy services (CPSs). Objectives To explore physicians’ perceptions and overall attitudes toward CPSs in China, to determine the dimensions of factors underlying the physicians’ perceptions of different types of CPSs, and to analyze the determinants of physicians’ overall attitudes. Setting Inpatient units of urban general hospitals in China. Methods Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 990 physicians in the inpatient units of 22 general hospitals in seven cities between June and October 2012. Descriptive statistical analysis, factor analysis, and logistic regression were used. Main outcome measures The physicians’ comfort levels and their overall attitudes toward CPSs, as well as the dimensions of factors underlying their perceptions of CPSs. The predictors of overall attitudes included demographics, the characteristics of self-perceived workload, the frequency of communication with clinical pharmacists, and the perception variables for the different types of CPSs. Results Amongst the 646 questionnaires retrieved, 81.3 % of the physicians had positive overall attitudes. Factor analysis resulted in four factors, with a cumulative explained variance of 69.0 %, as follows: clinical pharmacists’ support of physicians’ decisions; auxiliary work; prescribing; and independent decision-making activities. The results of logistic regression showed that the degree of comfort with clinical pharmacists’ support of physicians’ decisions had the greatest influence on physicians’ overall attitudes toward CPSs. Conclusion From the perspective of improving physicians’ overall attitudes, the prioritization strategy of developing CPSs in China should focus on the role of clinical pharmacists within the decision support system for medication management, thus encouraging clinical pharmacists to interact more frequently with physicians at the ward level.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ng J, Harrison J. Key performance indicators for clinical pharmacy services in New Zealand public hospitals: stakeholder perspectives. J Pharm Health Ser Res. 2010;1:75–84.
Hu M, Jiang XH, Wu YP, Yan Q, Li XX. Survey on hospital pharmaceutical care in China and the status quo of clinical pharmacy practice (part 2): survey on status quo of clinical pharmacy practice (in Chinese). Chin Pharm. 2009;20(13):1030–2.
Smith WE, Ray MD, Shannon DM. Physicians’ expectations of pharmacists. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2002;59(10):50–7.
Matowe L, Abahussain EA, Al-Saffar N, Bihzard AM, Al-Foraih A, Al-Kandery AA. Physicians’ perceptions and expectations of pharmacists’ professional duties in government hospitals in Kuwait. Med Princ Pract. 2006;15:185–9.
Awad A, Matowe L, Capps P. Medical doctors’ perceptions and expectations of the role of hospital pharmacists in Sudan. Pharm World Sci. 2007;29:557–64.
Tahaineh LM, Wazaify M, Albsoul-Younes A, Khader Y, Zaidan M. Perceptions, experiences, and expectations of physicians in hospital settings in Jordan regarding the role of the pharmacist. Res Soc Adm Pharm. 2009;5(1):63–70.
Abu-Gharbieh E, Fahmy S, Rasool BA, Abduelkarem A, Basheti I. Attitudes and perceptions of healthcare providers and medical students toward clinical pharmacy services in United Arab Emirates. Trop J Pharm Res. 2010;9(5):421–30.
Thomas P. Professional relationships between general practitioners and pharmacists in health centers. Br J Gen Pract. 1991;41:84–5.
Lobas NH, Lepinski PW, Woller TW. Satisfaction of physicians and nurses with clinical pharmacy services. Am J Hosp Pharm. 1991;48:1189–90.
Spencer JA, Edwards C. Pharmacy beyond the dispensary: general practitioners’ views. BMJ. 1992;304:1670–2.
Bailie GR, Romeo B. New York State primary care physicians’ attitudes to community pharmacists’ clinical services. Arch Intern Med. 1996;156:1437–41.
Alkhateeb FM, Clauson KA, McCafferty R, Latif DA. Physician attitudes toward pharmacist provision of medication therapy management services. Pharm World Sci. 2009;31(4):487–93.
Ritchey FJ, Raney MR. Effect of exposure on physicians’ attitudes toward clinical pharmacists. Am J Hosp Pharm. 1981;38:1459–63.
Weiss MC, Sutton J. The changing nature of prescribing: pharmacists as prescribers and challenges to medical dominance. Soc Health Illn. 2009;31(3):406–21.
Langebrake C, Hilgarth H. Clinical pharmacists’ interventions in a German University Hospital. Pharm World Sci. 2010;32:194–9.
Emmerton L, Marriott J, Bessell T, Nissen L, Dean L. Pharmacists and prescribing rights: review of international developments. J Pharm Pharmaceut Sci. 2005;8(2):217–25.
Bond CA, Raehl CL. 2006 National clinical pharmacy services survey: clinical pharmacy services, collaborative drug management, medication errors, and pharmacy technology. Pharmacotherapy. 2008;28(1):1–13.
Bond CA, Raehl CL. Clinical and economic outcomes of pharmacist managed aminoglycoside or vancomycin therapy. Am J Health-Syst Pharm. 2005;62(15):1596–605.
Bond CA, Raehl CL. Clinical and economic outcomes of pharmacist-managed antimicrobial prophylaxis in surgical patients. Am J Health-Syst Pharm. 2007;64(18):1935–42.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to express their appreciation for all the research assistants in data collection. Special thanks to the anonymous reviewers and the editors for their useful comments.
Funding
This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71003055) and the innovation training projects for the Jiangsu College students. (Grant No. 2012JSSPITP1053).
Conflicts of interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest relevant to this work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Li, X., Huo, H., Kong, W. et al. Physicians’ perceptions and attitudes toward clinical pharmacy services in urban general hospitals in China. Int J Clin Pharm 36, 443–450 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-014-9919-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-014-9919-8