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BACKGROUND: Pharmacist prescribing has gained momentum over the years and is currently utilised in Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, United Kingdom (UK), and the United States of America (USA). While pharmacist prescribing has been associated with symptom improvement, reduced prescribing error rates, medication omissions, and improved medication access, the effects of pharmacist prescribing in secondary care have not been previously evaluated. OBJECTIVES: This systematic review aimed to assess the effects of pharmacist prescribing on health-related outcomes in secondary care. METHODS: MEDLINE, Cochrane, CINAHL, Scopus, and Web of Science Core Collection databases were searched for studies published in English from database inception to October 3, 2024. Studies were included if the intervention was pharmacist prescribing and the outcomes were health-related and measurable. Narrative synthesis of the outcomes from included studies was conducted. RESULTS: A total of 21 studies from five countries (Australia, Egypt, Hong Kong, UK, USA) were included. Pharmacist prescribing significantly improved disease management, reduced the number of hospital revisits, improved blood pressure control, international normalised ratio control and decreased the number of adverse events when compared to medical prescribing. The evidence further suggests that the healthcare costs per patient per month, median cost of treatment, inpatient hospitalisations and emergency department admissions were significantly lower when pharmacists prescribed medicines. The evidence was low to moderate quality. CONCLUSION: This systematic review provides evidence that pharmacist prescribing has a positive effect on therapeutic outcomes, and that pharmacist prescribing is comparable or better than medical prescribing in secondary care.
Akintunde et al. (Mon,) studied this question.