Journal of interprofessional care
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Existing validated measures of pharmacist-physician collaboration focus on measuring attitudes toward collaboration and do not measure frequency of interactions that comprise actual collaborative behavior. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop and validate an instrument to measure the frequency of collaboration between general practitioners (GPs) and pharmacists from the GP's perspective. An 11-item Frequency of Interprofessional Collaboration Instrument for GPs (FICI-GP) was developed and administered to 1118 GPs in eight divisions of general practice in New South Wales, Australia. ⋯ After collapsing the original five-point response scale to a three-point response scale, the refined FICI-GP demonstrated fit to the Rasch model. Criterion validity of the FICI-GP was supported by the correlation of FICI-GP scores with scores on a previously validated physician-pharmacist collaboration instrument as well as by predicted differences in FICI-GP scores between subgroups of respondents stratified on age, co-location with pharmacists and interactions during residency. The refined 10-item FICI-GP was shown to have good internal consistency, criterion validity and fit to the Rasch model.
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Interprofessional teamwork is practised when the care needs of patients are complex. Little is known about the extent to which team competence really determines patient interventions. The aim of the study was to examine the degree of multidimensionality in patient discussions in psychiatry, and to how different professions contribute. ⋯ Decisions on interventions concerned equally medical, social and psychological aspects. An interprofessional composition of teams offers no guarantee that interventions will be of a multidimensional nature. The results are discussed in relation to previous research and practical implications.