Academic Unit of Palliative Care, Leeds Institute of Health Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
Int J Pharm Pract. 2021 May 25;29(3):252-257. doi: 10.1093/ijpp/riab002.
Pharmacists can contribute to improved patient outcomes, improve medicine knowledge, reduce drug costs and minimise errors. However, their role within hospice-based services is not well described.
The objective of this paper was to explore the role of pharmacists within UK hospices.
Methods include an online survey and follow-up telephone contact of pharmacists working in UK hospices assessing pharmacist provision, duties, communication, medicine sourcing and training.
Eighty-nine responses were received from 82 hospices (response rate 50%). Pharmacists had a role in 75% of hospices providing between 6.6 min and 5.5 hrs of pharmacist support per bed per week. The most frequent duty reported was provision of medicines information to the clinical team. Access to patient records varied considerably: 13% had full read and write access to GP records while 29% had no access. Job-specific training had not been received by 36% of the respondents and 47% reported training needs including basic training in palliative care.
Three-quarters of UK hospices have pharmacy provision, although this falls below the recommended levels in the majority. Hospice pharmacists lack access to training and records. Medicines sourcing for hospices is variable and could provide opportunities for efficiencies with further research.
药剂师可以通过改善患者的治疗效果、提高用药知识、降低药品成本和减少用药错误来做出贡献。然而，他们在临终关怀服务中的角色尚未得到充分描述。
本文旨在探讨英国临终关怀机构中药剂师的角色。
研究方法包括对在英国临终关怀机构工作的药剂师进行在线调查和后续电话访谈，评估药剂师的服务提供情况、职责、沟通、药品采购和培训。
共收到 82 家临终关怀机构中 89 名药剂师的回复（回复率为 50%）。75%的临终关怀机构配备了药剂师，为每张病床每周提供 6.6 分钟至 5.5 小时的药师支持。最常见的职责是向临床团队提供药品信息。药剂师对患者记录的访问权限差异很大：13%的药剂师可以完全读写全科医生的记录，而 29%的药剂师则没有任何访问权限。36%的受访者没有接受过专门针对该岗位的培训，47%的受访者表示需要培训，包括姑息治疗方面的基本培训。
尽管大多数临终关怀机构都配备了药剂师，但提供的服务水平仍低于建议水平。临终关怀药剂师缺乏获取培训和记录的途径。临终关怀机构的药品采购存在差异，通过进一步研究，可以提高效率并带来更多机会。
