Emerging trends: the involvement of community pharmacists in the planning and execution of pharmaceutical policies and economics

ABSTRACT

Introduction

The aim of this study was to analyze existing research on the involvement of community pharmacists in the planning and execution of pharmaceutical policies and economic strategies.

Methods

The researcher searched five scholarly databases: Medline, BioMed Central (BMC), Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE), ProQuest, and PubMed for the reviewed articles. The search and selection of the articles involved searching each of the databases using specific keywords and a combination of them to form phrases and the Boolean search string. The researcher adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines in developing this study.

Results

From the original search, a total of 537 articles emerged from which 17 articles remained upon screening. Findings show that the community pharmacy role has expanded over the past years to enable pharmacists serve diverse roles, but there is a high lack of involvement of these stakeholders in the planning and execution of policies. The pharmaceutical and health-care sectors operate in a way that does not recognize nor engage community pharmacists sufficiently in the policy planning and execution.

Conclusions

Relevant stakeholders need to create an enabling and supportive environment for utilizing the abilities, knowledge, and skills of community pharmacists in policy planning and execution.

KEYWORDS:

• Community pharmacists
• economic policies in pharmacy
• execution of pharmaceutical policies
• pharmaceutical policies
• planning in pharmacy

Article highlights

• Community pharmacists play a vital and expanded role in ensuring patient safety of care.

• The role has continuously expanded from the traditional limited space of drug dispensers to include other aspects like overseeing adherence to medical-related regulations within the pharmaceutical sector.

• Community pharmacists have good knowledge of community needs from a healthcare perspective as well as knowledge of medication management and the drug market. This knowledge can be vital if leveraged to guide the planning and execution of pharmaceutical policies.

• Despite these benefits, there is a high lack of involvement of these important stakeholders in the planning and execution of policies that shape service delivery and economics in the pharmaceutical industry.

• This lack of inclusivity for community pharmacists creates a challenge for them not to be up to date with issues that can affect the efficiency of pharmaceutical operations for better economic performance.

Declaration of interest

The author has no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Acknowledgments

The researcher would like to acknowledge Dr Ahmed Fatehalrahman and Dr Saad Alqahtani, who helped in the screening of the research articles, for their inclusion in this study.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This manuscript was funded by the Deanship of Scientific Research, Taif University.