Understanding the Complexities of Drug Transactional Interaction Between the Patient and Pharmacist: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Drug transaction interaction is a complex global phenomenon in terms of drug safety, quality, and rational use. Non-participatory interactions concerning drugs might lead to adverse effects, as well as loss of resources, time, and money. The complexities of drug transactional interactions in developing countries, especially in the Asian context, are understudied. Therefore, this scoping review aimed to map the scientific evidence that explored the patient–pharmacist interaction patterns for primary health care in relation to drug transactional complexities in pharmacy care settings. For this purpose, we adopted the methodological framework by Arksey and O’Malley (2005). The PubMed, Science Direct, EBSCO discovery services, AnthroSource Online database, cross reference, and manual searches were used to select relevant articles (29). The results revealed that the majority of studies had been conducted from a profession-centric point of view, such as in pharmacy, medicine, and public health, but little has been studied from a social science standpoint. The selected studies were divided into those from developed and developing countries based on their location. Accordingly, studies in developed countries have focused on ensuring participatory, collaborative, and patient-centric interactions. In contrast, researchers in developing countries have struggled to identify and recognize the role of pharmacists, drug dispensing patterns, and ways to operate pharmacy care. Thus, this scoping review synthesis can contribute to policy formulation and implementation to boost the access to safe medicines, as well as reduce medication errors and identify research gaps for future research projection.