Advanced pharmaceutical services in community pharmacies
Main Article Content
Keywords
pharmaceutical service, pharmacist intervention, community pharmacy, advanced services
Abstract
Background: A community pharmacist represents the most accessible healthcare provider in many countries, and community pharmacies are suitable places for patient counselling, addressing simple health issues, managing chronic diseases, offering support for non-pharmaceutical treatment, making recommendations for safe medication use, and preventing further drug-related problems. Objective: This review aims to summarise the types of advanced care interventions pharmacists make in community pharmacies, explore their feasibility and benefits for patients and public health, and assess the impact of these interventions on the continued development of pharmaceutical practice in community pharmacies. Methods: The search for relevant studies was conducted on PubMed using keywords related to pharmaceutical services in community pharmacies and excluding studies in hospital pharmacies and clinical pharmacy interventions. Results: This review encompasses a variety of pharmaceutical services tailored to patients/clients with diverse types of diseases. Historically, first data about advanced pharmaceutical services in community pharmacies were related to interventions for patients with cardiovascular (CV) diseases and asthma. They remained the most prevalent, and their clear positive benefits were well-documented. Scientifical investigations of other advanced services were less extensive with tangible advantages but mainly depended on the intervention duration and physicianpharmacist cooperation. Conclusions: Advances in pharmaceutical services and their outcomes documented in scientific literature represent a shift towards addressing individual patient needs alongside the traditional roles of pharmacists. However, the field’s vastness and less consistent research hinder the formulation of universally applicable recommendations or guidelines. Particularly, interventions focused on CV diseases are strong candidates for internationally valid recommendations in community pharmacies.
References
in patients on polypharmacy--a prospective randomised controlled trial. BMC Health Serv Res. 2016;16:145. https://doi.
org/10.1186/s12913-016-1384-8
144. Rickles NM, Svarstad BL. Relationships between multiple self-reported nonadherence measures and pharmacy records.
Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy. 2007;3(4):363-77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sapharm.2006.11.001
145. Treibich C, Lescher S, Sagaon-Teyssier L, Ventelou B. The expected and unexpected benefits of dispensing the exact number of
pills. PLoS One. 2017;12(9):e0184420. https://doi.org/10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0184420
146. Winslade N, Eguale T, Tamblyn R. Optimising the changing role of the community pharmacist: a randomised trial of the impact
of audit and feedback. BMJ Open 2016;6(5):e010865. https://doi.org/10.1136/BMJOPEN-2015-010865
147. Bond C. The MEDMAN study: a randomized controlled trial of community pharmacy-led medicines management for patients
with coronary heart disease. Fam Pract. 2007;24(2):189-200. https://doi.org/10.1093/fampra/cml075
148. Elliott RA, Barber N, Clifford S, Horne R, Hartley E. The cost effectiveness of a telephone-based pharmacy advisory service to
improve adherence to newly prescribed medicines. Pharm World Sci 2008; 30: 17-23.
149. Elliott RA, Boyd MJ, Salema NE, Davies J, Barber N, Mehta RL et al. Supporting adherence for people starting a new medication
for a long-term condition through community pharmacies: A pragmatic randomised controlled trial of the New Medicine
Service. BMJ Qual Saf 2016;25(10):747-58. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2015-004400
150. Elliott RA, Boyd MJ, Tanajewski L, Barber N, Gkountouras G, Avery AJ et al. ‘New Medicine Service’: Supporting adherence in
people starting a new medication for a long-term condition: 26-week follow-up of a pragmatic randomised controlled trial.
BMJ Qual Saf. 2020;29 (4):286-95. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2018-009177
151. Touchette DR, Masica AL, Dolor RJ, Schumock GT, Choi YK, Kim Y et al. Safety-focused medication therapy management: A
randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association. 2012;52(5):603-12. https://doi.org/10.1331/
japha.2012.12036
152. Salmasi S, Tsao NW, Li K, Shaske JN, Marra CA, Lynd LD. Characterization of pharmacist-based medication management services
in a community pharmacy. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy. 2020;16(2):178-182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
sapharm.2019.04.051
153. Lam N, Muravez SN, Boyce RW. A comparison of the Indian Health Service counseling technique with traditional, lecture-style
counseling. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association. 2015;55(5):503-10. https://doi.org/10.1331/japha.2015.14093
154. Mott DA, Martin B, Breslow R, Michaels B, Kirchner J, Mahoney J et al. Impact of a medication therapy management intervention
targeting medications associated with falling: Results of a pilot study. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association.
2016;56(1):22-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.japh.2015.11.001
155. Tachi T, Noguchi Y, Teramachi H. Developing and Verifying the Efficacy of ‘Educational Program for Promoting Appropriate Selfmedication
via Pharmacies and Pharmacists’: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Biol Pharm Bull. 2020;43(1):77-86. https://doi.
org/10.1248/bpb.b19-00543
156. Lam AY, Nguyen JK, Parks JJ, Morisky DE, Berry DL, Wolpin SE. Addressing low health literacy with “Talking Pill Bottles”: A pilot
study in a community pharmacy setting. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association. 2017;57(1):20-29.e3. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.japh.2016.07.003
157. Law A V, Sakharkar P, Zargarzadeh A, Tai BWB, Hess K, Hata M et al. Taking stock of medication wastage: Unused medications
in US households. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy. 2015;11(4):571-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
sapharm.2014.10.003
Article Sidebar
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Reka VIOLA., PharmD, PhD, postdoc researcher, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Szeged, Eötvös u. 6, 6725 Szeged, Hungary.
postdoc researcher, Department of Clinical Pharmacy