ArticleBMJ open2020
Evaluation of the General Practice Pharmacist (GPP) intervention to optimise prescribing in Irish primary care: a non-randomised pilot study.
Article in BMJ open, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 90 citations in OpenAlex.
- Understanding the Cost Consequences of Pharmacist Roles in Managing Long-Term Illnesses: A Systematic Review.Saudi medical journal · 2026Pooled it
- Scope, content and quality of clinical pharmacy practice guidelines: a systematic review.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2024Pooled it
- Consumer Attitudes Towards Deprescribing: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2022Pooled it
- Contexts and mechanisms relevant to General Practitioner (GP) based interventions to reduce adverse drug events (ADE) in community dwelling older adults: a rapid realist review.HRB open research · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Effectiveness of Pharmacist Interventions in Improving Medication Use in Hospitalised Older Patients Diagnosed With Cardiovascular Diseases: INFAR Before-and-After Study.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2025Trial
- Medication changes and potentially inappropriate prescribing in older patients with significant polypharmacy.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2023Trial
- Patient and general practitioner experiences of implementing a medication review intervention in older people with multimorbidity: Process evaluation of the SPPiRE trial.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Characterising pharmacist interventions from person-centred medicines reviews in general practice settings.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2026Article
- Interprofessional team members' experiences collaborating with pharmacists in team-based primary care in British Columbia, Canada: a qualitative evaluation.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2026Article
- Disparities in treatment burden in Peru among people with multiple long-term conditions by geography and healthcare facility: A cross-sectional study.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Quality of prescribing and health-related quality of life in older adults: a narrative review with a special focus on patients with atrial fibrillation and multimorbidity.European geriatric medicine · 2025Review
- Clinical pharmacist prescriber in primary care in Slovenia: prospective non-randomised interventional study focused on clinical outcomes and quality of life.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
- Article
- Developing Integrated Extended Pharmacist Roles and Services for Equitable Access and Outcomes in Primary Healthcare: A Realist Evaluation.International journal of health policy and management · 2025Article
- The Arabic medication-related burden quality of life (MRB-QoL) tool: Cross-cultural adaptation and content validation.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2024Article
- Economic cost-benefit analysis of person-centred medicines reviews by general practice pharmacists.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2024Article
- Pharmacists' attitudes towards interprofessional collaboration to optimise medication use in older patients in Switzerland: a survey study.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- An exploration of Northern Ireland general practice pharmacists' views on their role in general practice: a cross-sectional survey.BMC primary care · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveLimited evidence suggests integration of pharmacists into the general practice team could improve medicines management for patients, particularly those with multimorbidity and polypharmacy. This study aimed to develop and assess the feasibility of an intervention involving pharmacists, working within general practices, to optimise prescribing in Ireland.
designNon-randomised pilot study.
settingPrimary care in Ireland.
participantsFour general practices, purposively sampled and recruited to reflect a range of practice sizes and demographic profiles.
interventionA pharmacist joined the practice team for 6 months (10 hours/week) and undertook medication reviews (face to face or chart based) for adult patients, provided prescribing advice, supported clinical audits and facilitated practice-based education. OUTCOME MEASURES: Anonymised practice-level medication (eg, medication changes) and cost data were collected. Patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) data were collected on a subset of older adults (aged ≥65 years) with polypharmacy using patient questionnaires, before and 6 weeks after medication review by the pharmacist.
resultsAcross four practices, 786 patients were identified as having 1521 prescribing issues by the pharmacists. Issues relating to deprescribing medications were addressed most often by the prescriber (59.8%), compared with cost-related issues (5.8%). Medication changes made during the study equated to approximately €57 000 in cost savings assuming they persisted for 12 months. Ninety-six patients aged ≥65 years with polypharmacy were recruited from the four practices for PROM data collection and 64 (66.7%) were followed up. There were no changes in patients' treatment burden or attitudes to deprescribing following medication review, and there were conflicting changes in patients' self-reported quality of life.
conclusionsThis non-randomised pilot study demonstrated that an intervention involving pharmacists, working within general practices is feasible to implement and has potential to improve prescribing quality. This study provides rationale to conduct a randomised controlled trial to evaluate the clinical and cost-effectiveness of this intervention.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.