A stepped wedge randomised controlled trial assessing the efficacy and patient acceptability of virtual clinical pharmacy in rural and remote Australian hospitals.

Background: Despite medication being the most common healthcare intervention and medication-related incidents being common in hospitals, many rural and remote hospitals in Australia lack onsite pharmacy services due to resource constraints. A Virtual Clinical Pharmacy Service (VCPS) staffed by two senior, rural generalist hospital pharmacists assigned to four hospitals each was implemented in rural and remote facilities to determine whether the VCPS increased adherence to National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (NSQHS).

Methods: A stepped-wedge randomised controlled trial was employed to sequentially implement a telehealth pharmacy service at one-month intervals in eight hospitals.

Virtual clinical pharmacy services: A model of care to improve medication safety in rural and remote Australian health services.

Purpose: To describe a virtual clinical pharmacy service as a model of care to support rural and remote Australian hospitals that otherwise would not have access to onsite pharmacists.

Summary: Many small hospitals in Australia do not have an onsite hospital pharmacist and struggle to support and optimize patient care. To increase access to a hospital pharmacist's specialized skills and medication knowledge, a virtual clinical pharmacy service was designed and implemented in 8 hospitals across rural New South Wales, Australia in 2020.