Exploring pharmacist-medical practitioner collaboration on outpatient pharmaceutical care at Mankweng Hospital in Limpopo Province, South Africa

Abstract

Developing countries face huge challenges in provision of pharmaceutical care whereas some developed countries have developed and implemented measure to improve pharmaceutical care through collaborative practices. Collaborative patient care is referred to as the cooperative work or practice by healthcare professionals assuming complementary roles and sharing responsibilities for decision making and problem solving to formulate and furnish quality patient care. Pharmaceutical care is governed by the principles and philosophy of patient centred pharmacy practice, where the main responsibilities, roles or action of a pharmacist are based on patient care. Collaborative pharmaceutical care practice for outpatient requires collaborative action of a pharmacist with other healthcare practitioners. Pharmacist-medical practitioner collaborative care practice is one of the recently emerging aspects in developing countries’ hospitals such as in South Africa which can enhance patient care. Method A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews was conducted with a purposeful sample of 8 pharmacists and 9 medical practitioners at Mankweng Hospital in Limpopo province, South Africa. In the study we used audiotaped interviews that were transcribed exactly as said and analysed using thematic content analysis. Results Three main themes emerged from the study’s interview analysis, description of the current relationship and collaborative practices; the perspective of the pharmacists and medical practitioners on collaboration; the barriers affecting pharmacist-medical practitioner collaboration; and recommendations on the ways, strategy and model to improve pharmacists-medical practitioner collaboration. This highlighted that the relationship among pharmacists and medical practitioners is moderate and there a need for improvement in the relationship. The recommendations range from established xv educational and interactional platforms, improved resource supply, clarity in terms of roles and responsibilities and enhanced managerial structures and functions. Conclusion The current relationship among pharmacists and medical practitioners is moderate. There is still a need for improvement in the relationship to achieve quality collaborative practice for pharmaceutical care in outpatient.