Melbourne Medical School, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry & Health Sciences of the University of Melbourne, Medical Building, Cnr Grattan Street & Royal Parade, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia.
St Vincent's Health, Department of Addiction Medicine, 38 Fitzroy Street, Fitzroy, Victoria 3065, Australia.
Int J Pharm Pract. 2022 Jun 25;30(3):204-214. doi: 10.1093/ijpp/riac005.
Medicinal cannabis was introduced with limited understanding of effect, and minimal rigorous evidence supporting efficacy, yet the global demand for medicinal cannabis continues to increase. In Australia, pharmacists remain a key conduit between the prescriber and patient, as most medicinal cannabis products are available only through approved prescriptions. This places pharmacists in a strong position to inform the evolving policy and practice of medicinal cannabis. This review aims to explore pharmacists' experiences and perceptions on medicinal cannabis in the global context by conducting a narrative review with a systematic approach.
MEDLINE (Ovid), EMBASE, and PubMed were searched on July 2021 using keywords and MeSH terms, with studies independently screened for eligibility. Of 278 identified studies, five met inclusion criteria, and were subjected to thematic synthesis for emergent themes.
Whilst pharmacists valued being central to medicinal cannabis access, a repeating theme was that pharmacists perceived they were underprepared when engaging with patients about medicinal cannabis. These perceptions were congruent with their dispensing experiences, as most pharmacists reported patients seeking guidance on medicinal cannabis from them, yet only a small proportion felt comfortable in providing this guidance. Underpinning this was a lack of knowledge and low uptake of educational resources.
Pharmacists are key in providing access to medicinal cannabis, yet they are expected to provide guidance with limited education. These limitations necessitate further investment in ongoing education to pharmacists in countries wishing to involve them in dispensing medicinal cannabis.
医用大麻在引入时对其效果的了解有限，并且几乎没有严格的证据支持其疗效，但全球对医用大麻的需求仍在持续增长。在澳大利亚，药剂师仍然是医生和患者之间的主要渠道，因为大多数医用大麻产品只能通过批准的处方获得。这使药剂师能够在医用大麻不断发展的政策和实践中发挥重要作用。本综述旨在通过系统的叙述性综述，探讨全球范围内药剂师对医用大麻的经验和看法。
2021 年 7 月，使用关键词和 MeSH 术语在 MEDLINE（Ovid）、EMBASE 和 PubMed 上进行检索，独立筛选研究以确定其是否符合纳入标准。在确定的 278 项研究中，有 5 项符合纳入标准，并进行了主题合成以提取出现的主题。
尽管药剂师重视成为医用大麻准入的核心，但一个反复出现的主题是，药剂师认为他们在与患者讨论医用大麻时准备不足。这些看法与他们的配药经验一致，因为大多数药剂师报告说患者向他们寻求医用大麻的指导，但只有一小部分人觉得自己能够提供这种指导。这主要是因为缺乏知识和对教育资源的低利用率。
药剂师是提供医用大麻准入的关键，但他们被期望在教育有限的情况下提供指导。这些限制要求那些希望让药剂师参与医用大麻配药的国家进一步投资于对药剂师的持续教育。
