What types of clinical interventions do pharmacists carry out in hospitals for patients receiving palliative care?

Abstract

Palliative care is a multi-dimensional practice that comprises medical, physical, social and spiritual interventions aimed at the improvement of the patient’s quality of life. Given the level of reliance on drugs in this care setting, pharmacists are professionals who can promote the rational use of medicines, optimizing symptom management through evidence-based and patient-centered medication therapy. The aim of this study is to identify and map the existing evidence on the types of clinical interventions conducted by pharmacists, whether independently or in collaboration with the multidisciplinary team, within hospital settings and for patients receiving palliative care. A scoping review was conducted using three electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, and Virtual Health Library) to search for relevant studies published until January 2022. Three independent reviewers screened all publications to identify interventions conducted by pharmacists in palliative care patients admitted to hospitals. The DEPICT tool was utilized for data extraction and classification to synthesize the interventions. Twenty-eight studies were included in this review. The United States of America and Japan were the countries where most research was conducted (n = 7 for both). Interventions related to pain management were the most common (n = 10), followed by the provision of general drug information (n = 8) and drug recommendations (n = 7). Thirteen studies reported the inclusion of a pharmacist in the multidisciplinary team. The majority of publications (n = 18) concluded that the interventions performed had a relevant impact on patient health, such as pain control, deprescription of inappropriate drugs, and cost reduction.

Keywords:

• Palliative care
• End-of-life care
• Pain relief
• Quality of life
• Pharmaceutical services
• Clinical Pharmacy service
• Patient safety
• Patient-centered care

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank all authors for the contribution and researchers that revised the manuscript for important intellectual content. We also thank Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) for the financial support.

Disclaimer statements

Disclosure statement No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s ).

Data availability statement The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Supplemental Data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09699260.2023.2286417

Additional information

Funding

This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 88887.483243/2020-00.

Notes on contributors

Lincoln Marques Cavalcante-Santos

Lincoln Marques Cavalcante-Santos, Clinical Pharmacist and Researcher in the fields of Pharmaceutical Care, Patient Safety, and Palliative Care.

Alan Maicon de Oliveira

Alan Maicon de Oliveira, Clinical and Hospital Pharmacist, Researcher in the fields of Healthcare Safety and Quality Management, Healthcare Services Administration, Occupational Health, Patient Safety, Risk Management, Pharmaceutical Care, and Pharmacovigilance.

Emília Vitória da Silva

Emília Vitória da Silva, Professor and Coordinator of the research group on Access to Medicines and Responsible Use.

João Paulo Vilela Rodrigues

João Paulo Vilela Rodrigues, Clinical Pharmacist and Researcher in the field of Pharmaceutical Care, focuses on providing care for elderly hospitalized patients.

Leonardo Régis Leira Pereira

Leonardo Régis Leira Pereira, Professor and Coordinator of the Research Center in Pharmaceutical Assistance and Clinical Pharmacy (CPAFF), conducts research on Pharmaceutical Care, Pharmacoepidemiology, Pharmacovigilance, and Pharmacoeconomics.

Fabiana Rossi Varallo

Fabiana Rossi Varallo, Professor and Clinical Pharmacist, is a researcher in the field of Hospital Pharmacy, specializing in Pharmacovigilance, Clinical Pharmacy, and Patient Safety in medication use.