Collaboration between family physicians and community pharmacists to enhance adherence to chronic medications: opinions of Saskatchewan family physicians.

OBJECTIVE

To ascertain the opinions of family physicians about medication adherence in patients with chronic diseases and the role of community pharmacists in improving adherence to chronic medications, as well as their opinions on increased collaboration with pharmacists to enhance medication adherence.

DESIGN

A self-administered postal survey of 19 questions, with opinions collected by ordinal (5-point Likert scale) and open responses.

SETTING

Saskatchewan.

PARTICIPANTS

Two hundred and eighty-six family physicians working in Saskatchewan in January 2008.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Descriptive statistics of physicians' opinions on the following: medication adherence in patients with chronic diseases; their current interaction with community pharmacists; and potential collaborative strategies to promote medication adherence.

RESULTS

The response rate was 39.4%. Approximately 75% of the physicians acknowledged that nonadherence to chronic medications was a problem among their patients. Medication costs and side effects were identified as the 2 most common reasons for medication nonadherence. Only one-quarter of physicians communicated regularly with community pharmacists about adherence issues; most of these physicians were rural physicians. Most physicians agreed that increased collaboration with pharmacists would improve adherence, although support for potential interactions with pharmacists varied. Concerns were expressed about time required by physicians and financial reimbursement. Physicians in practice for less than 10 years and those practising in rural areas were more willing to share clinical information and communicate with pharmacists to promote medication adherence.

CONCLUSION

Saskatchewan family physicians appreciate the importance of medication nonadherence but currently seldom interact with community pharmacists on this issue. They believe that pharmacists have a role in supporting patients with medication adherence and indicate a willingness to work more collaboratively with them to promote adherence. For this type of collaboration to be effective, it appears that increased adherence-related communication between the 2 health care providers and additional health care funding are required.