Further evidence for pharmacists in General Practice

Researchers from Great Britain have demonstrated that the presence of a clinical pharmacist based in 16 urban GP practices (total of 69 GPs ) had definitive benefits. Pharmacists dealt with special requests (for acute prescriptions created and issued by a GP without an appointment), immediate discharges (letters or documents containing patient discharge information from an inpatient admission, and ensured that medications were clinically reviewed and accurately reconciled), and other drug-related issues (supply problems, drug information etc). For two weeks before the study and for two equivalent periods during the study, GPs recorded the time they spent on these activities. Pharmacists recorded their activities using a special template. The assistance of clinical pharmacists allowed a reduction in GP time spent on key prescribing activities by 51% (79 hours, P<0.001) per week per practice. There were also positive impacts on staff morale, and reduced staff stress levels.Read the original paper here at the British Journal of General Practice.