Background For the past several years pharma-
cists’ responsibilities have expanded globally from tradi-
tional tasks of dispensing medications to collaborating with
other health care professiona ls in patient care. Similar
developments have not occurred in outpatient settings in
Iceland. Objective The aim of this study was to explore
Icelandic general practitioners’ views on the current status
of primary care, their percept ions of pharmacists as a
health care profession, and their attitudes towards future
GP-pharmacist collaboration in primary care in Iceland.
Setting Twelve primary care clinics in Iceland. Methods
Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with
general practitioners from different primary care clinics in
Iceland. A purposive and snowbal l sampling technique was
used to select participants. All interviews were recorded
and transcrib ed verbatim. The transcripts were categorized
by themes and then analyzed using conventional content
analysis. Main outcome measure General practitioners’
attitudes towards pharmacists. Results Twenty general
practitioners from twelve different primary care clinics in
Iceland were interviewed. There are several unmet needs
regarding medicines and patient monitoring in the Ice-
landic health care system. General practitioners suggested
ways in which these gaps may be addressed and pharma-
cist-led clinical service was one of the suggestions.
Currently, their communication with pharmacists in the
primary sector solely surrounds practical non-clinical
issues. Due to increas ing polypharmacy and multimorbid-
ity, they suggested that pharmacists should be more
involved in patient care. Conclusions General practiti oners
believe that pharmac ist-led clinical service can increase the
quality of patient therapy. To improve communication
between these health care providers, pharmacists must also
re-professionalize (strengthening the profession
´
s status
through new responsibilities and tasks), not having a con-
flict of interest and showing that they have expertise in
patient care.