Clinical pharmacist facilitators in primary care: a descriptive study of their roles and services provided in general practices of southern New Zealand.

INTRODUCTION Internationally, the inclusion of pharmacists into general practice as clinical pharmacy facilitators has improved patient outcomes. However, clinical pharmacists are relatively new to southern New Zealand general practices and their range of services has not been studied. AIMS To describe the implementation of clinical pharmacist services in general practices in the Southern region; to examine the tasks conducted by clinical pharmacy facilitators; and to determine the characteristics of patients who access this service. METHODS The establishment and development of the clinical pharmacy facilitator role was determined by documentation held within the local Primary Health Organisation. The activities performed by clinical pharmacy facilitators were collected from patient medical records for the period 31 March 2015 to 31 March 2018. To describe the characteristics of patients receiving these services, a retrospective case note review of patients seen by the facilitators was conducted. RESULTS The clinical pharmacy facilitator role was initiated with three pharmacists in three geographical locations across the region. Within 18 months, the number of facilitators was increased to eight. As a result of collaboration with the general practice team, 42% of referrals came from general practitioners directly. Overall, 2621 medicine-related problems were identified in 2195 patients. Dosage adjustment was the most common recommendation made by pharmacy facilitators. They consulted mostly older patients and patients taking five or more medicines. DISCUSSION With effective collaboration, clinical pharmacy facilitators can play a key role in optimisation of medicines therapy.