Exploring consumer experiences of pharmacist prescribing - a scoping review

The evolving scope of practice for pharmacists now encompasses a transition from traditional dispensing roles towards an integration of expanded clinical services, which include but are not limited to vaccinations, medication reviews, and prescribing. This scoping review aimed to explore the existing literature concerning consumer perceptions of pharmacist independent prescribing (PIP) from the patients who have experienced this service firsthand.

The research question was developed, and relevant search terms, databases, and inclusion/exclusion criteria were systematically identified. This review followed the PRISMA guidelines (Tricco et al., 2018) and sources were searched from 2006 to 2026. Following the screening and full-text review processes, data was presented in a table form. The insights identified from consumers were grouped into themes. All screening was independently carried out by two members of the review team.

A systematic screening of the literature yielded 802 records, from which 19 papers met the inclusion criteria for full-text review, focusing specifically on consumer perspectives regarding their direct experience with PIP. The synthesis of these papers consistently indicated a favourable disposition among consumers concerning both the expanded PIP role and their utilisation experiences, tempered only by a few identified concerns.

Given that Australia is still in the initial stages of implementing PIP, there is a need to give a voice to consumers. Overall, this review highlighted that consumers were largely supportive of the PIP role, and their experiences are mostly positive with this service. There is capacity to design and implement locally relevant studies to gauge the consumer perspectives of the PIP service and to identify ways to address the challenges and facilitate integration of PIPs in primary care.