| Summary: | This article presents the results of a pilot study to assess the knowledge and attitudes of physicians in training about adult vaccination in pharmacies and the impact of these results on collaboration between the two communities. The Pharmacy Profession Act has changed the role and tasks of the pharmacist. Pharmacists can provide health services. Immunization is the first health service in Poland to be provided as part of pharmaceutical care by pharmacists in pharmacies. An important novelty of the pilot is to show the attitudes of young physicians toward the new competencies of pharmacists in qualifying and performing vaccinations in pharmacies. The pilot presents the point of view of physicians (mean age 33 years) who were undergoing specialty training in 2023. Physicians' knowledge of pharmacy vaccinations that may be fully or partially publicly funded, i.e. COVID-19, influenza, and pneumococcal, was assessed. The results indicate that physicians had the greatest knowledge of pharmacy vaccination against COVID-19 and influenza. In the study group, only 37% of physicians recommend pharmacy vaccination. The larger the city in which the physician works, the more often he or she recommends pharmacy vaccination. However, 63% of physicians surveyed do not recommend pharmacy vaccinations. The pilot identified reasons why young physicians do not recommend pharmacy vaccinations. Respondents most often answered that they do not recommend pharmacy vaccination because patients do not ask for it (31%), patients vaccinate at the health center (26%), physicians and do not cooperate with pharmacies on vaccination (23%). The survey shows that there is an urgent need to include training on adult immunization in the educational programs of all health professions, including physicians, which can be delivered in pharmacies. Pharmacists can support vaccination education. Therefore, collaboration at the local level is essential: community pharmacy - health center or family physician practice. Particular attention should be paid to the contact between physicians and pharmacists in large urban areas where cooperation between the two groups is lacking or limited.
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