Supporting prescribing in Irish primary care: protocol for a non-randomised pilot study of a general practice pharmacist (GPP) intervention to optimise prescribing in primary care

Abstract

The management of patients with multimorbidity who are taking multiple medicines is challenging, particularly for GPs in primary care, as there is often fragmentation, or poor communication, between primary and secondary care settings [7]. [...]there has been an increased emphasis on the need to support GPs in the management of these patients [8]. Unlike the UK, pharmacists in Ireland have not been integrated into the general practice team. [...]the feasibility of the integration of pharmacists into Irish general practice teams warrants exploration, prior to evaluation in a full-scale randomised controlled trial (RCT). [...]demographic characteristics of the pharmacists and GPs involved will be displayed and taken into account in the analysis process. [...]the potential timesaving (or time-intensification) aspects of the intervention will also be explored during the process evaluation. Despite the relatively widespread implementation of practice-based pharmacists in the UK, there is limited evidence on the clinical- and cost-effectiveness of this type of intervention to date.