[Cooperation between general practitioners and pharmacists: a systematic review].

Area of Science:

• Primary Care
• Health Services Research
• Interprofessional Collaboration

Background:

• The effectiveness of interventions promoting cooperation between general practitioners and pharmacists remains unclear.
• There is a need to understand how this collaboration impacts patient outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically assess the effectiveness of interventions based on cooperation between general practitioners and pharmacists.

Main Methods:

• A systematic literature review was performed using MEDLINE, Cochrane Database, and PASCAL.
• Included randomized clinical trials published in English or French.
• Searched for studies on general practitioner-pharmacist collaboration and pharmacist interventions complementing general practitioner roles.

Main Results:

• Sixteen of 22 included trials demonstrated patient benefits from pharmacist interventions.
• Pharmacist interventions positively impacted the management of arterial hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and drug-related problems.
• Trial criteria were often procedural or surrogate, lacking cost-effectiveness analyses.

Conclusions:

• Collaboration between pharmacists and general practitioners enhances primary care quality.
• Improvements are particularly noted in cardiometabolic condition management and addressing prescription issues.