Interprofessional collaboration in pharmacist-led primary care clinics.

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Practice
• Health Services Research
• Social Network Analysis

Background:

• Pharmacists are vital in team-based care, but their interprofessional collaboration in single-disciplinary outpatient settings is not well understood.
• Understanding these collaborative dynamics is crucial for optimizing patient care delivery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the nature and composition of interprofessional collaboration among pharmacists in pharmacist-led primary care clinics.
• To identify how pharmacists build and maintain networks to support patient care.

Main Methods:

• Recruited pharmacists from 3 Canadian university-affiliated, pharmacist-led primary care clinics.
• Utilized social network analysis, including semistructured interviews and sociograms (participant drawings).
• Analyzed interview transcripts through systematic coding and iterative refinement.

Main Results:

• Eleven pharmacists (78%) were interviewed, generating 28 sociograms.
• Pharmacist networks included diverse health professionals and family members.
• Pharmacists maintained relationships through communication and medication management decisions, despite physical distribution.

Conclusions:

• Pharmacist networks are dynamic and crucial for medication management in primary care.
• Pharmacists employ strategies to overcome collaboration barriers, often requiring patient self-advocacy.
• Expanding the pharmacist scope of practice may help mitigate system obstacles.