TITLE:
Collaboration between Nurses and Pharmacists of Psychiatric Wards May Bring Some Changes
AUTHORS:
Michiyo Ando, Hajime Miyazaki, Haruka Kurihara, Ryo Nakamoto, Yosuke Yamawaki
KEYWORDS:
Collaboration, Nurses, Pharmacist, Psychiatry, Well-Being
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Nursing,
Vol.16 No.9,
September
8,
2026
ABSTRACT: Purpose: The purpose of this study was to clarify the contents of collaboration and changes between nurses and pharmacists in psychiatric wards in hospitals. Method: Six nurses and 3 pharmacists participated in the interview. A researcher interviewed individually for one hour. They talked about the questions . Categories were chosen by content analysis as quantitative analysis. Results: We showed some categories as examples. About nurses, categories of were “Families were convinced by explanation from pharmacists wearing white coats”, “Patients were convinced by explanation from pharmacists”. Categories of were “Agreement of medicine for children by family was difficult”, “Nurses looked for chances or time and asked for explanations from doctors or pharmacists”. Categories of were “A nurse felt a pharmacist familiar”, “A patient could take medicine and frequency of entering the hospital decreased”. About pharmacists, categories of were “Patients could take medicine by explanation from pharmacists”, “A pharmacist collaborated with a nurse about iv drip”. Categories of were “Soaking in medication counseling by a pharmacist was difficult”, “A pharmacist let nurses know the instructions for high-risk medicine”. A category of was “A pharmacist connected a patient and a doctor”. Discussion: Collaboration between nurses and pharmacists led to some changes. 1) Nurses required pharmacists to explain medicine to patients or families as medicine professionals, patients and families were convinced of medication, patients could take medicine and frequencies of entering hospitals decreased. 2) Sharing knowledge about high-risk medicine or usual medicine changes consciousness of safety of nurses. Collaboration of nurses and pharmacists may bring patients’ well-being.