The future of pharmacy practice research

Abstract

The chapter starts by outlining the current and future scenario related to pharmacy practice research. This chapter then sets the scene by discussing issues that are pertinent for practice research. These issues are changes in population demographics, changes in technology, the role of the pharmacy as an institution and consumer behaviour as well as changes in the pharmacy profession. It also outlines the major shifts in pharmacy practice research, which include interprofessional collaboration and teamwork with patients, describing and measuring outcomes of interventions as well as patients’ cultural diversity. It concludes by drawing attention to methodologies that would be most commonly used in future pharmacy practice research. Some of the future methodological challenges could be the emergence of big and complex datasets, dealing with electronic health records and pharmacy practice researchers’ adoption of a myriad of mixed methodologies. The Chapter also includes a conceptual model at the end.