Search

Abstract Background Interprofessional collaboration enhances the use of competencies of different medical team members. Additionally, pharmacists’ involvement in patient care has been shown to improve their outcomes and seems particularly valuable in chronic diseases. Therefore, due to the aging of society and the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, efforts are needed to involve pharmacists more broadly in patient care. However, there is a limited understanding of what factors could influence their willingness to participate in an interprofessional care team, especially among pharmacy students only entering the profession. This study aimed to fill these knowledge gaps by exploring graduating pharmacy students’ intentions in this regard guided by the theory of planned behavior. Methods We conducted seventeen semi-structured interviews with graduating pharmacy students of Poznan University of Medical Sciences, which were then thematically analyzed by two researchers. Results Positive attitudes of respondents, who mentioned the possibility of acquiring new knowledge, skills, and competencies, increased prestige and appreciation of the pharmacist’s profession, a better quality of patient care, and the support and relief offered to other team members as a result of collaboration, seem to strengthen their intentions. However, they also expressed their worries about potential errors and knowledge gaps, which constituted an example of some existing negative feelings. The identified sources of generally mixed social pressure toward the behavior included other pharmacists and pharmacy students, physicians, patients, their relatives and friends, and the decision and policymakers. Finally, their intentions may also be weakened by the mentioned perceived behavioral control aspects, like their level of pharmaceutical and clinical knowledge, skills, and experience, their knowledge of representatives of other professions and collaboration, the atmosphere at their future place of work, co-workers’ potential reluctance to collaborate with them, finding time for collaboration, the existence of incentives and gratification system, and existing legal regulations. Conclusions The attitudes of graduating pharmacy students toward interprofessional collaboration seem mostly positive, but their intentions might be weakened by the mixed sense of social pressure and factors decreasing their perceived behavioral control.

Abstract Background Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (TPB) postulates that individuals’ behavioral intention is influenced by their attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. Therefore, it can be used to broaden the understanding of particular behaviors, including healthcare workers’ professional activities. Methods In this study, we used TPB as a theoretical framework to evaluate semi-structured interviews with pharmacists and physicians to build an understanding of the interprofessional collaboration between them. Sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with pharmacists and eleven with physicians. The sample of participants comprised a diverse group with varying work experience and workplaces. Data were analyzed independently by two researchers following the thematic analysis method using ATLAS.ti software. Data saturation was set in the absence of new issues arising during the interviews. Results The content analysis allowed for the determination of six main themes: the relationship between previous experiences and attitudes towards collaboration, pharmacist’s role in collaboration, mutual reluctance toward collaboration, the role of decision- and policy-makers, knowledge and qualifications gaps regarding collaboration, and lack of organizational paths. Conclusions Despite both physicians and pharmacists displaying positive attitudes towards collaboration may foster their intention to establish a professional partnership, subjective norms (e.g., the lack of appropriate legal regulations) and perceived behavioral control (physicians’ lack of awareness about pharmacists’ qualifications and the low level of interpersonal skills) might impede the process.