The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7236 p227
15 February 2003

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Letters to the Editor

Practice pharmacists

A need for lessons in psychology

From Mrs M. S. Kapoor, MRPharmS

I read with interest an article entitled "Influences on GPs' decision to prescribe new drugs — the importance of who says what" (Family Practice 2003;20: 61–8). Unsurprisingly, medical representatives featured highly, with the conclusion that decisions to initiate new drugs were "heavily influenced by 'who says what', in particular the pharmaceutical industry, hospital consultants and patients".

As I read through the study my heart sank at the lack of mention of pharmacists working as prescribing advisers or prescribing support pharmacists. However, a couple of pages on, my yearning eyes were greeted with the snippet "Primary care groups and their prescribing advisers seemed to be emerging as influences, especially in relation to drug costs".

Is that it? After several years of pharmacists being attached to GP practices we merely appear to be useful sources of independent drug information. Where are we going wrong? Are we not convincing enough? Are we not persuasive enough?

Perhaps the answer lies in the way we are presented to GP practices. If I were a GP who was presented with a young whippersnapper of a pharmacist whose function was to "sort my prescribing out" I would be pretty indignant at the concept. After all, no one wants to be told that what they are doing is wrong.

Practice pharmacists employed by primary care trusts have to cover several GP practices in one week. This means that they are not readily available at any one practice; if there were one pharmacist per practice, the scenario where a medical representative would see both GPs and the practice pharmacist together would be the norm rather than the exception.

The pharmaceutical industry spends a colossal amount of money in training medical representatives, with lessons in psychology playing an important part.

Pharmacy students do not attend courses in the psychology involved in influencing and negotiating so their lack of training, compared with the in-depth psychoanalytical skills of medical representatives, puts them at a disadvantage.

Most GPs (at least the ones that I have encountered) believe that a pharmacist on their team is a valuable asset. However, for us to reach the point where we are seen as one of the top influential factors on GP prescribing, we need some good marketing, fewer practices to look after per pharmacist and some lessons in psychology.

Monica Sharma Kapoor
Prescribing Support Pharmacist
Doncaster West Primary Care Trust

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