Global overview of pharmacy support personnel training programmes: a scoping review protocol

A global variation in the pharmacy support personnel training programmes has been observed. The objective of this scoping review is to map out global evidence available on the pharmacy support personnel training programme characteristics, and interface between knowledge, practice and regulatory requirements.

The scoping review will be undertaken by two independent reviewers. Peer-reviewed journal articles of any study design and grey literature will be included with no publication time limit. All literature published in English focusing on pharmacy support personnel training programmes, entry-level certification requirements, ongoing professional development and apprenticeship will be included. We will search MEDLINE (EBSCOhost), PubMed, CINAHL (EBSCOhost), Web of Science, Academic Search Complete, (EBSCOhost) and Dissertation and Thesis (ProQuest), ProQuest Dissertation and Thesis Global and Google Scholar, and reference list of all included studies. We will also search grey literature from websites of international professional regulatory bodies and associations. All studies that meet the inclusion criteria will be imported into a reference management package (EndNote V.20) that facilitates study selection, screening and de-duplication. Data will be extracted by two independent reviewers using a jointly developed and piloted data charting form. Data items will include skills, knowledge, competencies, admission criteria, content, duration, qualification options, accreditation status, delivery models and approaches. Data extracted from the included studies will be collated, and quantitative results presented using descriptive statistics such as percentages, tables, charts and flow diagrams as appropriate. A narrative account of findings from the literature will be presented following qualitative content analysis of the extracted information using NVivo V.12. Quality appraisal of included studies will not be assessed as the purpose of the scoping review is to give a descriptive global overview of the pharmacy support personnel training programmes, and evidence will also be sourced from grey literature.

No ethical approval is needed for this study as it does not include animals or human participants. The study findings will be disseminated electronically and in print with presentations done at relevant platforms, that is, in peer-reviewed journals, in print and in conferences.

Open Science Framework (ofs.i0/r2cdn; registration DOI: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/F95MH; internet archive link: https://archive.org/details/osf-registrations-f95mh-v1; registration type: OSF-Standard Pre-Data Collection Registration).