PHYSICIANS-IN-TRAINING ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE COMMUNITY PHARMACISTPHYSICIAN COLLABORATION AND PHARMACEUTICAL CARE: A 2022 CROSSSECTIONAL SURVEY IN POLAND

Background
The World Health Organization (WHO) encourages collaboration among healthcare professionals. Due to the aging of the population and the burden of chronic diseases, there is a need to implement effective pharmaceutical care in Poland. This study aimed to characterize attitudes towards community pharmacist-physician collaboration and pharmaceutical care among physicians-in-training in Poland.

Material and methods
This cross-sectional survey was conducted among 509 doctors undergoing specialization training in the fourth quarter of 2022. The study questionnaire included 18 questions on community pharmacist-physician collaborative working and pharmaceutical care.

Results
94.1% respondents agreed that there is a need for the physician-pharmacist collaboration in pharmaceutical care. Among the respondents, 77.2% declared a lack of knowledge of the pharmacists’ responsibilities under Polish law, and 79.6% declared that the current education programs do not prepare physicians for cooperation with pharmacists and pharmaceutical care. Most of the physicians declared that pharmacists should provide patient education on the use of medical equipment (92.5%), detection of drug-dietary supplements interactions (85.9%), and detection of polypharmacy (85.7%). Lack of IT systems supporting collaborative working and pharmaceutical care (69.5%) was the most common barrier to collaboration with physicians.

Conclusions
The study showed that current cooperation between physicians and community pharmacists is limited to formal issues. Building cooperation between physicians and pharmacists must start at the education stage. The implementation of pharmaceutical care should start with the cooperation of primary care physicians and community pharmacists from community pharmacies.