Hospital and community pharmacists' attitudes towards clinical pharmacy

This longitudinal study compared the attitudes of the Class of 1983 at the University of Toronto toward clinical pharmacy seven years after graduation with those they expressed at the point of graduation in 1983. Over three quarters of the original class responded by indicating agreement or disagreement with statements (on a 5-point scale) about clinical pharmacy in 1983 and 1989. While there was little difference between those who became hospital pharmacists versus those who became community pharmacists at the point of graduation, seven years later, the hospital pharmacists were significantly more favourable than their colleagues toward drug consulting aspects of clinical pharmacy. The community pharmacists were significantly more favourable than their colleagues toward patient counselling aspects of clinical pharmacy. It is concluded that the work setting has influenced these different preferences for how the ideal of clinical pharmacy is interpreted. We offer a possible explanation for the consistently positive, if divergent, orientations towards the ideal of clinical pharmacy.