Developing pharmacist practice through a pilot family practice preceptorship programme: a prospective quantitative pre-post evaluation.

Authors

Tamara M Cairney, Heather Harrison, Mairi-Anne McLean, Tania Ramos, David Kernaghan, Chris F Johnson

Published in

International journal of clinical pharmacy. Aug 06, 2026. Epub Aug 06, 2026.

Abstract

Primary care health services face workforce pressures internationally. Greater multidisciplinary working is seen as a solution. In Scotland, pharmacists are embedded within primary care teams. General Practice Clinical Pharmacists (GPCPs) deliver medicines-related services, including independent prescribing, medicines optimisation and medication review. However, GPCPs' clinical experience and training vary considerably. A structured preceptorship programme was developed to support role development.
To evaluate the impact of a preceptorship programme for GPCPs on self-assessed training needs, competence and confidence within routine primary care practice.
A prospective repeated-measures survey and medication review activity analysis were conducted with GPCPs in one health board between January 2024 and March 2025. Reported using the Checklist for Reporting of Survey Studies (CROSS). Preceptees, identified using eligibility criteria, completed a 32-item Hennessy-Hicks Training Needs Analysis questionnaire pre- and post a 12-week preceptorship programme, rating tasks for importance, self-perceived performance and confidence. Matched pre-post questionnaire responses were analysed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Routinely recorded medication review activity was extracted from electronic clinical systems for six months pre- and post-programme and summarised descriptively.
Fifty-three GPCPs enrolled; 51 (96%) completed (median age 34 [range 24-57] years; 43 (84%) female. Median years qualified were 11 (range 1-33) and 3 years (0-10) primary care experience. Pre- to post-response rate was 76% (39/51). At baseline, the top five scoring self-reported priority training needs items (task importance minus perceived performance score) of the 32 items were: mental health and chronic pain reviews, conflict management, biopsychosocial assessment, and assessing patient decision-making capacity. At 12 weeks all scores had reduced, with larger reductions observed in the top five items (p < 0.001 for each item). Self-reported competence and confidence across all superordinate categories appeared to increase. Recorded medication review activity was summarised descriptively. Median monthly reviews increased from 2 (IQR 0-4) before preceptorship to 4 (IQR 1-10) during preceptorship, before returning to 2 (IQR 0-7) after programme completion.
Structured preceptorship was associated with improved self-reported competence and confidence and a short-term increase in recorded medication review activity. Further evaluation is required to determine whether these changes translate into sustained clinical activity for improved patient outcomes.

PMID:
42560426
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 06 Aug 2026.

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