Personality traits of hospital pharmacists: toward a better understanding of factors influencing pharmacy practice change

BACKGROUND: The profession of pharmacy has adopted a mandate to become more patient-centred; however, significant change in this direction has not been achieved.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the personality traits of hospital pharmacists in one Canadian province, to provide insights into potential barriers to practice change.

METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of hospital pharmacists was conducted in Alberta, Canada. An invitation to participate was sent to all 766 hospital pharmacists practising in the province's 2 health service organizations. The survey was based on the Big Five Inventory, a validated, reliable instrument that uses a 5-point Likert scale to measure the traits of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness.

RESULTS: Of the 347 pharmacists who completed the survey (45% response rate), the majority (297 [86%]) were staff pharmacists working full time in an urban setting. The average age of respondents was 41 years (standard deviation [SD] 11 years), and the average period in practice was 17 years (SD 11 years). Respondents' mean scores were 3.2 (SD 0.7) on extraversion, 3.8 (SD 0.4) on agreeableness, 4.0 (SD 0.4) on conscientiousness, 2.5 (SD 0.7) on neuroticism, and 3.5 (SD 0.6) on openness. Total frequency counts revealed that respondents tended toward stronger expression of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness and low levels of neuroticism (with the latter indicating stability).

CONCLUSION: The Big Five Inventory represents a novel approach to examining pharmacists' change-related behaviours. Improving understanding of hospital pharmacists' personality traits will provide insights for the development of training and support programs tailored specifically to this group.