Pharmacy services for diabetic patients in South Carolina: a survey of physician and patient attitudes

Diabetic patients and physicians in South Carolina were surveyed to gauge their attitudes to 13 potential pharmacy services. Approximately 33% of the physician sample and 42% of the patient sample responded to a self-administered, mailed questionnaire. The results indicated that both groups held favorable attitudes toward services aimed at improving the patient's knowledge of diabetes but reacted negatively to services in which the pharmacist would be involved in the collection of information relating to diabetic control. Although the attitudes of patients and physicians were highly congruent, patients typically held more favorable attitudes than physicians when significant differences were found. It also was found that patient and physician characteristics were incapable of segregating respondents into groups with varying attitudes.