Pharmacists in general practice: a focus on drug-related problems

Background Team based care has been used internationally to improve the delivery of best practice primary health care. The WentWest General Practice Pharmacist Project, involving the integration of pharmacists within general practice teams, was commissioned to improve medication management of general practice patients. A particular focus of the project was the performance of medication review to allow the detection and resolution of drug related problems (DRPs). Objective The objectives of this 6-month study (October 2016–March 2017) were to: (1) identify and classify the DRPs detected as a result of pharmacist activities within a general practice primary care setting. (2) compare the number of pharmacist recommendations and GP acceptance rates as a result of pharmacist patient consultations across multiple general practice sites. Setting 15 general practice primary care sites in Western Sydney NSW Australia. A multi-centre prospective observational study conducted over a 6-month period from October 2016 to March 2017. Main outcome measure Drug-related problems (DRPs). Results Six pharmacists recorded the results from 493 patient consultations. The pharmacists identified 1124 DRPs and made 984 recommendations, of which 685 (70%) were recorded as accepted by the GP. Conclusion Pharmacists have a valuable role to play in the detection and resolution of DRP as part of the general practice team.