title: Professional training and roles of community pharmacists in malaysia: views from general medical practitioners.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This pilot study aimed to explore the perceptions of general medical practitioners (GPs) towards the professional training and roles of community pharmacists.
  
  
  METHODS
  A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to all private clinics (n=160) run by GPs in a northern state of Malaysia. The instrument contained questions to evaluate the practitioners' level of agreement using a 5-point Likert-type scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 160 GPs, 80 returned the questionnaire (response rate 50%). The respondents agreed that: GPs should consider the community pharmacists' recommendations whenever there is/are any problem(s) with the prescriptions given by them (46.3%); community pharmacists are the best healthcare professionals to educate patients about safe and appropriate use of medications (52.5%); the pharmacy profession had undergone a major metamorphosis from a product-oriented profession to a more patient-centred and outcome-oriented one (61.3%); if dispensing separation is implemented, they will work closely with the community pharmacists in monitoring patients' pharmacotherapeutic outcomes (77.5%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The current findings suggest that GPs would support an extension of the role of the community pharmacists in number of activities of patient care activities such as medication counselling. Thus, suggesting potential collaborative care between GPs and community pharmacists towards patient care and the needs to develop and incorporate topics on inter-professional relationship in the current medical and pharmaceutical education curriculums.
authors.affiliation: Lecturer and Researcher, Discipline of Social & Administrative Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia [Mohamed Azmi Ahmad Hassali, Asrul Akmal Shafie].
authors.forename: Ma
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hassali
authors.affiliation: Doctoral Research Fellow, Dept of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia [Ahmad Awaisu].
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Awaisu
authors.affiliation: Lecturer and Researcher, Discipline of Social & Administrative Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia [Mohamed Azmi Ahmad Hassali, Asrul Akmal Shafie].
authors.forename: Aa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shafie
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate Student, Dept of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia [Mustapha Salih Saeed].
authors.forename: Ms
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saeed
keywords: Community pharmacists; general practitioners; perceptions; roles; training