What is it about?

The management of wounds presents a significant clinical and financial burden worldwide. Community pharmacies are uniquely positioned to be the first port of call for wound care. Despite this, there is limited literature describing the provision of wound care in community pharmacies. A scoping review of the literature was conducted to examine what role pharmacists and non-pharmacist staff play in wound care in the community setting.

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Why is it important?

The result of our research identified 14 multifaceted roles, which comprised of wound-related and non-wound-specific, clinical and non-clinical activities. These roles were then mapped to the International Pharmaceutical Federation’s Global Competency Framework for pharmacists, and we concluded that it is within the scope of practice for pharmacists to deliver wound care in the community.

Perspectives

As a community pharmacist, my daily interactions frequently involve patients seeking first-aid advice and presenting with various wound-related concerns. There's a certain degree of ambiguity surrounding the role of pharmacists in wound care and our collaborative engagement with other healthcare practitioners. The objective of interprofessional collaboration is to enhance the accessibility of wound care and ultimately improve health outcomes. However, I feel like there's an inherent apprehension among pharmacists regarding the potential encroachment upon the responsibilities of nurses and physicians, which remains a subject of ongoing debate. Now that we've identified these 14 distinct roles that pharmacists can assume within the domain of wound care, the next step is to see how they apply in real-life practice. My upcoming research project will assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of pharmacists in wound care in Australia. I trust this article will offer more insight into how we could leverage the expertise of pharmacists, stimulate discussions about the possible expansion of their scope of practice, and solidify their status as indispensable members of the healthcare team, particularly in the realm of wound care.

Daisy Cheung
University of Sydney

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: The role of community pharmacy in wound care: a scoping review, Journal of Wound Care, November 2023, Mark Allen Group,
DOI: 10.12968/jowc.2023.32.11.728.
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