Pharmacist and physician views on collaborative practice: Findings from the community pharmaceutical care project.

BACKGROUND: Strong working relationships between pharmacists and physicians are needed to optimize patient care. Understanding attitudes and barriers to collaboration between pharmacists and physicians may help with delivery of primary health care services. The objective of this study was to capture the opinions of family physicians and community pharmacists in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) regarding collaborative practice. METHODS: Two parallel surveys were offered to all community pharmacists and family physicians in NL. Surveys assessed the following: attitudes and experience with collaborative practice, preferred communication methods, perceived role of pharmacists, areas for more collaboration and barriers to collaborative practice. Results for both groups were analyzed separately, with comparisons between groups to compare responses with similar questions. RESULTS: Survey response rates were 78.6% and 7.1% for pharmacists and physicians, respectively. Both groups overwhelmingly agreed that collaborative practice could result in improved patient outcomes and agreed that major barriers were lack of time and compensation and the need to deal with multiple pharmacists/physicians. Physicians indicated they would like more collaboration for insurance approvals and patient counselling, while pharmacists want to assist with identifying and managing patients' drug-related problems. Both groups want more collaboration to improve patient adherence. CONCLUSION: Both groups agree that collaborative practice can positively affect patient outcomes and would like more collaboration opportunities. However, physicians and pharmacists disagree about the areas where they would like to collaborate to deliver care. Changes to reimbursement models and infrastructure are needed to facilitate enhanced collaboration between pharmacists and physicians in the community setting.

Sorry, You Can't Have That Information: Data Holder Confusion Regarding Privacy Requirements for Personal Health Information and the Potential Chilling Effect on Health Research.

This study, conducted in Newfoundland and Labrador, assessed the level of awareness, perceptions and concerns of healthcare providers, health researchers, data managers and the general public about the collection, use and disclosure of personal health information (PHI) for research purposes. Data collection involved surveys and follow-up focus groups with participants. Results indicate a poor understanding generally with regard to privacy rights and responsibilities. Many professionals are unfamiliar with the legislative environment for PHI, particularly as it pertains to the access and use of PHI for research purposes. Lack of familiarity with basic requirements for patient-based research, coupled with heightened sensitivity to privacy issues owing to various federal and provincial regulatory initiatives, could have a chilling effect on health research. Importantly, our results indicate that the public is much less concerned about the use of their PHI for health research purposes than are professionals who collect, store and share it.