Pharmacist-patient relationships: authoritarian, participatory, or default?

The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of pharmacist-patient relationships in New Mexico community pharmacies. A total of 344 pharmacy personnel-patient interactions were observed. Pharmacists interacted with only 57% of patients who were picking up their prescriptions. Pharmacists used an extensive participatory style with only 13% of the patients who they interacted with. Pharmacists were significantly more likely to use a participatory style with older patients and with patients who were picking up refill prescriptions. The average length of pharmacist-patient encounters was just less than 2 min (114s). Pharmacist-patient interactions were significantly longer if: (1) pharmacists used more of a participatory approach with patients and (2) pharmacists gave more drug information to patients.