Physicians' experiences with pharmacists as new members of the interprofessional emergency department team. A qualitative study

PLoS One. 2025 Jan 13;20(1):e0317298. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0317298. eCollection 2025.

Abstract

Pharmacists in emergency departments (EDs) can alleviate physicians' workload by handling medication-related tasks and offer valuable contributions in interprofessional teams. We aimed to explore physicians' experiences working with pharmacists in EDs, and their perspectives on future permanent collaboration. We conducted semi-structured interviews with twenty physicians from two EDs and analyzed the data using thematic analysis. Four main themes emerged, comprising twelve subthemes that highlighted both challenges and motivations. Theme 1: time addressed physicians' time constraints, and the potential for time reallocation with assistance from pharmacists. Theme 2: various roles of pharmacists focused on the diverse roles of pharmacists who supported patient care and junior physicians, but faced challenges like availability and space constraints. Theme 3: teamwork concerned how pharmacists were trusted, brought valuable insights, and enhanced patient safety, yet there were ambiguous views on responsibility and cultural differences. Theme 4: future perspectives focused on how physicians favored a permanent inclusion of pharmacists in the ED, suggesting that they could independently conduct MedRec. Our findings suggest that pharmacists should be permanently integrated in ED teams. However, there is a need to address challenges related to space and legal regulations to enhance interprofessional collaboration.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Attitude of Health Personnel
  • Cooperative Behavior
  • Emergency Service, Hospital*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Interprofessional Relations*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Patient Care Team*
  • Pharmacists* / psychology
  • Physicians* / psychology
  • Professional Role
  • Qualitative Research*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Northern Norway Regional Health Authority (https://www.helse-nord.no/) under grant number HNF1483-19. The funder has no part in study design, data collection, management, or analysis, nor in writing and reporting of study conclusions. There was no additional external funding received for this study.