Advanced pharmacist practice: where is the United Kingdom in pursuit of this ‘Brave New World’?

• Published in: International journal of clinical pharmacy Vol. 43; no. 5; pp. 1426 - 1430
• Main Authors: Forsyth, Paul, Rushworth, Gordon F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01-10-2021
• Subjects: Commentary; Internal Medicine; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Pharmacy; Advanced practice; Competence; Opinion; Pharmacists; Workforce development
• ISSN: 2210-7703; 2210-7711
• DOI: 10.1007/s11096-021-01276-5

Pharmacy has developed many novel patient-facing roles across the globe, typically delivered through the lens of pharmaceutical care. The macro-level implementation of such interventions is, however, fraught with difficulty. At an individual-level, psychological barriers of pharmacists and their ability to deliver autonomous complex clinical care are key considerations. As the United Kingdom imminently plans to launch a new advanced pharmacist practice curriculum and credentialing process to support advanced skills development, this commentary discusses where progress to date has taken us and what other developmental, environmental and cultural changes are needed to support this. The commentary also challenges some of pharmacy’s historic dogma, discusses a requirement for teaching to transcend simplistic concepts of medicines-harm, considers the need for the standardisation of clinical skills and discusses the necessity of formal advanced practice programmes and preceptorship models. It finally proposes the concept of
Advanced Pharmacist Practitioners
as the ultimate future vision of autonomous practice and the need for Government Policy to support their creation.