Medical Records in Community Pharmacies: The Cases of UK and Australia

Abstract

Background: Lack of access to patients’ digital health records by community pharmacists can negatively impact pharmaceutical care. Access to these records by community pharmacists is only available in some countries. Thus, the study aim was to compare and discuss the shared patients’ health records between the National Health Systems and Community Pharmacies in UK and Australia. Methods: Two platforms were selected: Summary Care Records (SCR) (UK) and My Health Record (MyHR) (Australia). A qualitative and descriptive study was carried out. The type of shared health records was collected in public/official websites. Qualitative classifiers/descriptors were created to classify the shared health records. Results: The common classifiers/descriptors between both SCR and MyHR were medicines, medicines/immunization, and medical history. However, MyHR seems to comprise more details/information, such as patient’s discharge summaries, specialist letters, or documents to communicate significant patient information from one healthcare provider to another. Conclusion: Community pharmacists can update or consult SCR and MyHR to provide direct patient care in UK and Australia, respectively. The profile of shared health records with community pharmacies was not equal between SCR (UK) and MyHR (Australia). More studies are recommended to evaluate the benefits and risks of using these platforms on patients’ outcomes.