Interprofessional Collaboration Between Community Health Workers and Pharmacists

Area of Science:

• Interprofessional healthcare collaboration
• Community health services research
• Pharmacy practice and patient outcomes

Background:

• Community health workers (CHWs) are vital in connecting communities with health and social services.
• CHWs can collaborate with pharmacists to address social determinants of health.
• Understanding CHW-pharmacist collaboration is crucial for integrated care models.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore interprofessional collaboration between pharmacists and CHWs in Australia and New Zealand.
• To identify challenges and strategies for effective CHW-pharmacist collaborative practice.
• To understand mutual perceptions of roles in collaborative healthcare settings.

Main Methods:

• Conducted semi-structured interviews with 29 pharmacists and CHWs in Australia and New Zealand.
• Explored collaboration experiences, role perceptions, challenges, and strategies.
• Utilized inductive thematic analysis on transcribed interview data.

Main Results:

• CHWs facilitated patient-pharmacist connections, bridged cultural gaps, and supported medication adherence.
• Participants noted a lack of role clarity but recognized mutual benefits of collaboration.
• Key challenges included poor communication and absence of collaborative practice guidelines.

Conclusions:

• Collaborative practices exist between CHWs and pharmacists, but role clarity remains a challenge.
• Strategies to improve collaboration involve clarifying roles and enhancing mutual understanding.
• Future research should focus on co-designing interventions and guidelines for standardized CHW-pharmacist collaboration.