PHARMACEUTICAL CARE IN OPINION OF POLISH MEDICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL STUDENTS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY.

Pharmacy students should have a sufficient level of knowledge, skills, and attitude to practice pharmaceutical care effectively in the routine practice in the community pharmacy. Moreover, the strong cooperation between pharmacists and physicians is strongly needed in the process of providing pharmaceutical care. The aim of the study was to investigate the opinions of students of the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy from Medical University of Gdansk on pharmaceutical care and cognitive services and aspects of interprofessional collaboration between physicians and pharmacists under the conditions of Polish healthcare system. A crosssectional questionnaire was given at the Faculty of Pharmacy and Faculty of Medicine at the Medical University of Gdansk, Poland. Both, pharmacy and medical students expressed positive attitude towards pharmaceutical care. Medical students declared that pharmacists should be empowered to refill the prescriptions for medicinal products of the Rx category used in chronic diseases and have access to patients' medical records. However, in the opinions of students of the pharmaceutical faculty, physicians did not support the concept of pharmaceutical care. Pharmacy students identified obstacles to effective implementation of pharmaceutical care in community pharmacies, i.e., lack of time or lack of knowledge in the field of soft skills. Both, students from the Faculty of Pharmacy and Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Gdansk supported the idea of implementation of pharmaceutical care into Polish community pharmacies. Moreover, they recognized the process of evolution of pharmacists' competencies to more clinical role. Therefore, more representative studies are strongly needed to improve the development of pharmaceutical care in Poland.