Medication errors frequently occur in emergency departments (EDs), placing a burden on both patients and healthcare systems. Enhanced integration of pharmacists to multidisciplinary ED teams could alleviate physician workload and improve patient care and safety, a recent study has found.
This qualitative study explored physicians’ experiences of collaborating with pharmacists who joined emergency ED teams in two Norwegian hospitals, while also gauging their views on making such collaboration permanent.
The researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 physicians of varying seniority and specialties. Thematic analysis identified four main themes in which deploying pharmacists in the ED:
- Freed physicians’ time to focus on other clinical responsibilities
- Leveraged pharmacists’ diverse roles and extensive expertise in medication management
- Enhanced multidisciplinary teamwork
- Supported the case for permanent pharmacist inclusion in the future, particularly around independently conducting medicines reconciliation and benefiting both ED staff and patients.
However, respondents noted several challenges relating to these themes, including misaligned physician-pharmacist work hours, could limit pharmacists’ availability; space constraints for pharmacists to conduct their tasks; and ambiguities regarding responsibility for medication reconciliation.
Despite trusting pharmacists, some physicians felt uneasy about signing off on medication changes they didn’t perform. This revealed a cultural gap: pharmacists meticulously addressed every detail, while physicians didn’t always consider this necessary. Some favoured a shared-responsibility model, whereas others believed ultimate accountability rests with the physician who signs the chart.
Despite these challenges and their need for attention and solution, the authors concluded that pharmacists should be permanently integrated into ED teams.
One physician participant emphasised the quality-of-care benefits of this approach, saying: ‘It decreases the chance of medication errors. It is, quite frankly a quality assurance, I think. And it has happened many times… that there have been errors in the medication list at admission. Having pharmacists decreases the risk of that. Guaranteed.’
Commenting on how their work furthers the discourse on extended roles and responsibilities of hospital pharmacists, the authors said: ‘Authorities should recognise and leverage pharmacists’ knowledge and competencies, taking appropriate steps empower pharmacists to compile medication lists in EDs.’
They also noted how future work on this topic should address technical barriers to implementation, clarify professional responsibilities and provide adequate workspace to sustain meaningful interprofessional collaboration.
Reference
Johnsgård T et al. Physicians’ experiences with pharmacists as new members of the interprofessional emergency department team. A qualitative study. PLOS ONE. 2025;20(1): e0317298.
