Faculty of Health, Discipline of Pharmacy, University of Canberra, Bruce, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Department of Pharmacy, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
PLoS One. 2021 Oct 14;16(10):e0258674. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258674. eCollection 2021.
The inclusion of pharmacists into general practices in Australia has expanded in recent years. This systematic review aimed to synthesise the literature of qualitative and quantitative studies, and identify the knowledge gaps, related to pharmacists working in general practice in Australia.
This systematic review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. PubMed, EBSCOhost, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library were searched from the inception of databases to January 2021. The search was focused on studies investigating general practice pharmacists in Australia. The quality of each study was appraised using the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool criteria. The narrative synthesis approach was utilised to describe data due to the heterogeneity among study designs and measures.
Twenty-five studies were included in this review. General practice pharmacists engaged in various non-dispensing patient care services, with medication management reviews being the primary activity reported. General practice pharmacists' characteristics and an environment with a willingness of collaboration were the notable influencing factors for successfully including pharmacists in general practices. Factors that posed a challenge to the adoption of general practice pharmacists were lack of funding and other resources, poorly defined roles, and absence of mentoring/training.
This review has summarised the characteristics, activities, benefits, barriers, and facilitators of including pharmacists in general practices in Australia. General practice pharmacists are well accepted by stakeholders, and they can engage in a range of patient-centred activities to benefit patients. There is a need for more robust research to explore the patient and economic outcomes related to clinical activities that a pharmacist can perform in general practice, as a foundation to developing an appropriate and sustainable funding model. The findings of this review will be beneficial for pharmacists, researchers, policymakers, and readers who wish to implement the role of general practice pharmacists in the future.
近年来，澳大利亚将药剂师纳入全科医生实践的范围不断扩大。本系统评价旨在综合定性和定量研究文献，确定澳大利亚在全科医生中工作的药剂师的相关知识空白。
本系统评价遵循系统评价和荟萃分析的首选报告项目指南。从数据库建立之初到 2021 年 1 月，在 PubMed、EBSCOhost、EMBASE 和 Cochrane Library 中进行了搜索。搜索重点是调查澳大利亚全科医生药剂师的研究。使用混合方法评估工具标准评估每项研究的质量。由于研究设计和措施的异质性，采用叙述性综合方法来描述数据。
本综述共纳入 25 项研究。全科医生药剂师从事各种非处方患者护理服务，药物管理审查是主要报告的活动。全科医生药剂师的特征和合作意愿的环境是成功将药剂师纳入全科医生实践的重要影响因素。对采用全科医生药剂师构成挑战的因素包括缺乏资金和其他资源、角色定义不明确以及缺乏指导/培训。
本综述总结了澳大利亚将药剂师纳入全科医生实践的特点、活动、益处、障碍和促进因素。利益相关者普遍接受全科医生药剂师，他们可以开展一系列以患者为中心的活动，使患者受益。需要进行更有力的研究，以探索药剂师在全科医生实践中可以开展的临床活动与患者和经济结果之间的关系，为制定适当和可持续的资助模式奠定基础。本综述的结果将对药剂师、研究人员、政策制定者和希望在未来实施全科医生药剂师角色的读者有益。
