Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Perceptions, experiences and expectations of physicians regarding the role of the pharmacist in an Iraqi hospital setting

Salim A Hamadi¹ , Mohammed M Mohammed², Kawa A Dizaye³, Iman A Basheti⁴

¹Department of Pharmacology and Basic Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, Petra University, Amman, Jordan; ²Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Al-Mustansiriya University, Baghdad, Iraq; ³Pharmacology Department, College of Medicine, Hawler Medical University, Erbil, Iraq; ⁴Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Applied Science University, Amman, Jordan.

For correspondence:- Salim Hamadi Email: shamadi@uop.edu.jo Tel:+962796841854

Received: 4 July 2014 Revised: 8 January 2015 Published: 28 February 2015

Citation: Hamadi SA, Mohammed MM, Dizaye KA, Basheti IA. Perceptions, experiences and expectations of physicians regarding the role of the pharmacist in an Iraqi hospital setting. Trop J Pharm Res 2015; 14(2):293-301 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v14i2.15

© 2015 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose:To investigate the perceptions, expectations, and experiences of physicians regarding hospital-based pharmacists in some Iraqi government hospitals.

Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted at four government hospitals in Baghdad and Erbil, Iraq from March to July 2012. A validated, self-administered questionnaire was hand-delivered to a random sample of 200 physicians. The questionnaire comprised four sections that probed the physicians' demographic characteristics as well as their perceptions of, expectations of, and experiences with hospital pharmacists.

Results:Most participants (69.4 %) reported rarely interacting with pharmacists and that enquiring about the availability of medications was the main purpose (74.9 %) of any interactions. Physicians reported being comfortable with pharmacists preventing prescription error, treating minor illness, and suggesting prescription medication to physicians of 74, 75 and 67 %, respectively, but only 47 % were comfortable with pharmacists providing patient education. The perspective of physicians in Erbil differed from that of physicians in Baghdad (p < 0.05).

Conclusion:Interactions between Iraqi physicians and pharmacists are still not optimal. Physicians are much more comfortable with traditional pharmacist functions than with the extended, patient-oriented pharmacy services currently being promoted. Great efforts are needed to enhance the Iraqi physician's attitude regarding the clinical services provided by pharmacists which in turn would result in more collaboration among healthcare professionals.

Keywords: Physician, Pharmacist, Perception, Experience, Expectation, Patient-oriented, Pharmacy service