Community pharmacists effectively address medication-related problems following patients’ discharge from hospital but their “impact on other outcomes is not consistent”, according to the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

Hamde Nazar, a pharmacist from Durham University, and co-authors, reviewed 14 studies assessing post-discharge interventions that involved community pharmacy. The four studies examining medication errors found that community pharmacists significantly improved the identification and rectification of drug-related problems. These studies were “clearly designed” around “a focused outcome” and pharmacists adhered to appropriately structured protocols.

Other patient outcomes – including adherence and clinical control – did not show a uniform advantage or disadvantage from community pharmacists’ involvement, although the studies were inconsistently implemented and evaluated. The authors comment that, “due to the design and implementation of many of the remaining studies, the full potential of the interventions may not have been fully appreciated”. The “insufficient data and flawed study design and implementation mean that further impact on patient outcomes cannot be deduced”.

The authors call for randomised controlled trials with “more stringent” control arms than “uncontrolled ‘usual care’” and that include “process evaluations as standard” to allow for contextual factors. They note that if “other interventions … robustly demonstrate” such improvements, “the clinical qualities and role of community pharmacy in patient care will not be fully realised and possibly ignored”. (doi:10.1111/bcp.12718)