Abstract
Objective The aim of this study was to examine general practitioners’ (GPs’) views on (1) patients’ drug-related problems (DRPs) and noncompliance and (2) the role of pharmacy practitioners in DRP management. Method A brief questionnaire was designed and distributed to 224 GPs in Sweden. Results Totally 152 GPs responded (68%). Most felt that pharmacy practitioners could improve patients’ drug use by identifying DRPs. A majority of the GPs also found presentations and analyses of their local pharmacies’ DRP documentation valuable. According to the GPs’ experiences, adverse drug effects and therapy failure were the most salient problems in patients’ drug use. Half of the doctors believed that 50–75% of their patients were compliant with their prescribed drug treatments. A majority of the GPs found a 75–95% degree of compliance acceptable. Conclusion The surveyed GPs demonstrated very positive attitudes towards the role of pharmacy practitioners in improving patients’ drug use and managing DRPs. The GPs realised that many patients were not compliant with their prescribed drug treatments and accepted an imperfect compliance.
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Acknowledgments
We like to thank pharmacy student Pernilla Olsson, now a MSc(Pharm), for her skilful collection and compilation of data. Also thanks to the pharmacies for kind assistance in distributing the questionnaires, to the responding GPs for making this survey possible and to Fredrik Ax, MSc(Pharm) for general support.
Funding
The study was funded by Apoteket AB.
Conflicts of interest
None.
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Westerlund, T., Brånstad, JO. GPs’ views on patient drug use and the pharmacist’s role in DRP management. Pharm World Sci 32, 562–565 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-010-9408-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-010-9408-7