Counselling patients on psychotropic medication: physicians' opinions on the role of community pharmacists

Objective: To study physicians' opinions on community pharmacists' involvem ent in counselling patients on use of psychotropic medication. Design: A postal questionnaire with open-ended questions completed by physi cians. Subjects: A six per cent random sample (n=759) of the members of the Finnis h Medical Association representing physicians working in hospitals, communi ty health centres, private practices and occupational health services (resp onse rate 64%, n=487). Main measures: Physicians' opinions concerning community pharmacists' invol vement in counselling patients about purpose of the medication and adverse effects of benzodiazepines and neuroleptics. Results: When classifying opinions into five categories, majority (72%) of the physicians regarded community pharmacists as a provider of comprehensiv e or at least general information about adverse effects of benzodiazepines, but only 43% about the purpose of the medication. Correspondingly, 60% of the physicians regarded community pharmacists as a provider of comprehensiv e or general information about adverse effects of neuroleptics, but only 35 % about the purpose of the medication. There was a strong correlation betw een physicians' opinions concerning pharmacists' involvement in counselling patients about the purpose of the medication of benzodiazepines and neurol eptics (Spearman's coefficient 0.667), and about adverse effects of both ty pe of medication (0.668). Male physicians had more fixed opinions, both pos itive and negative, than female physicians. Conclusion: Finnish physicians are still quite critical about community pha rmacists involvement in counselling patients on psychotropic medication. Es pecially with neuroleptics, physicians feel that pharmacists should be caut ious when discussing the purpose of the medication if it is excluded from t he prescription.