Physician perceptions of pharmacist roles in a primary care setting in Qatar

This cross-sectional survey was developed following a comprehensive literature review and administered in English and Arabic. Consenting QP physicians were asked questions to assess experiences, comfort and expectations of pharmacist roles and abilities to provide medication-related advice and recommend and monitor therapies.The median age of the 62 (77.5%) physicians who responded was between 40 and 50？years old and almost two-third were men (64.5%). Fourteen different nationalities were represented. Physicians were more comfortable with pharmacist activities closely linked to drug products than responsibilities associated with monitoring and optimization of patient outcomes. Medication education (96.6%) and drug knowledge (90%) were practically unanimously recognized as abilities expected of pharmacists, but consultative roles, such as assisting in drug regimen design were less acknowledged. They proposed pharmacist spend more time with physicians attending joint meetings or education events to help advance acceptance of pharmacists in patient-centered care at this site.Physicians had low comfort and expectations of patient-oriented pharmacist roles but were not threatened to learn more about these capabilities or explore enhanced collaboration in patient care.Qatar is a gas- and oil-rich Arab emirate occupying a small peninsula in the Persian Gulf with a predominantly expatriate population. Qatar boasts an emerging economy and is recently devoting significant resources to develop its health care infrastructure [1,2]. Like other high-income countries, Qatar courts professionals from predominantly lower income countries to meet the demands of health service delivery [3-5]. Until only recently, there has been no local training of health professionals (the first domestically trained medical students (n？=？15) graduated in 2008) and so the medical group is a heterogeneous one with physicians having studied and worked in a myriad of other settings abroad. Just as physic