Hospital pharmacists providing drug information to psychiatric inpatients: still a long way ahead

Study objective The aim of this study is to gain knowledge on the opinion of psychiatric patients about the provision of drug information so that the psychiatric hospital pharmacist can consider opportunities to be directly involved in patient care. Methods Qualitative interviews were performed in a convenience sample of psychiatric patients. The interviews were audio taped, transcribed verbatim and coded. The questions concerned the content and the format of information, the information provider and the possible role of the hospital pharmacist. Results The sample consisted of 16 patients. Nearly all topics covered by the summary of product characteristics, especially side effects, were considered. Patients were open to a wide variety of drug information formats. They spontaneously named the psychiatrist, general practitioner and nursing staff as the most appropriate people to provide drug information. The hospital pharmacist was not spontaneously mentioned. Conclusion Psychiatric patients did not identify the hospital pharmacist as being a partner in their treatment. This provides a challenge for the development of clinical psychiatric pharmacy.