Congratulations to Muireann Counihan, who highlighted the potential for integrating pharmacists in primary care at the All-Ireland Schools of Pharmacy Conference this month.
Muireann, who recently joined the School as Practice Educator, presented the findings from her PhD, The Virtual General Practice Pharmacist: A Retrospective Service Description in Irish Primary Care.
General practice pharmacists are not yet routinely embedded at scale within primary care in the Republic of Ireland, and so a key aim of Muireann's work was to describe the breadth of activity a pharmacist can contribute within general practice — from medication reviews and resolving drug-related problems, to medicines shortage management, prescribing and regulatory support, and wider medicines optimisation.
Documenting this range of work is important if general practice pharmacy is to develop more widely in the Republic. Understanding what the role can encompass can help inform future service design, workforce planning, role definition and training requirements, while also demonstrating its potential value to the wider health system.
Muireann also had the valuable opportunity to speak with pharmacists working in the NHS Northern Ireland, where these roles have been established for a number of years, and to hear first-hand what a more developed model can look like in practice.
A big thank you to Ulster University, and all of the organising team, for hosting the conference.
Muireann's collaborators are Prof Cristin Ryan, Dr Mark Ledwidge and Dr Joe Gallagher.