‘You get a different mindset’ – primary care physicians’ perceptions of interprofessional medication reviews for patients living independently

TL;DR

Primary care physicians in Sweden view interprofessional medication reviews positively but face logistical challenges that hinder their implementation.

Contribution

This study provides new insights into physicians' perceptions of interprofessional medication reviews in primary care for independent patients.

Findings

Physicians value medication reviews for patient safety and clinical decision-making.

Logistical barriers like time constraints and unclear routines hinder implementation.

Interprofessional collaboration with pharmacists is seen as beneficial but requires better support.

Abstract

In primary health care in southern Sweden, interprofessional medication reviews are conducted, to a limited extent, for patients living independently, with the purpose of optimising their pharmacological treatment. These medication reviews have identified and addressed many important issues regarding the patients’ medication. However, there is limited knowledge regarding the participating physicians’ perspectives on the work. Gaining a better understanding of the physicians’ perspectives could contribute to the optimisation of the interprofessional medication review model used in primary health care. This study aimed to explore physicians’ perceptions and experiences of interprofessional medication reviews in primary health care for patients who live independently.

We conducted a qualitative study based on semi-structured discussions in four focus groups with a total of 24 participating primary care physicians. The discussions were transcribed verbatim, condensed, coded and categorised using content analysis.

Through our analysis, we identified four categories: obstacles and facilitators, interprofessional collaboration with the pharmacist, the physician’s responsibility and value-adding aspects. An underlying theme, a value-creating intervention with logistical barriers, emerged from the latent material.

Physicians expressed a consistently positive view of medication reviews for independently living patients, highlighting their value for patient safety, clinical decision-making, and learning. However, practical barriers, such as time constraints and unclear routines, were seen as key obstacles to implementation. These findings reflect the dual nature of medication reviews as a value-creating intervention with logistical challenges, which need to be addressed to support broader integration in primary care.