Abstract
The simulated patient methodology (SPM) is a form of participatory observation and can be used to assess the quality of counselling. The aim is to review those papers reporting the use of the SPM in German community pharmacies (CPs) from the beginning of 2005 to the end of 2018. The reporting items in the study were derived from the PRISMA Statement. We conducted a systematic search in the GVK-Plus, Embase, Web of Science, PubMed and Google Scholar databases. Additional sources included the personal literature collection of 1 of the reviewers and the reference lists from international systematic reviews and potentially relevant papers. The quality of the papers included was evaluated using the AXIS tool. A total of 5 papers were included. The SPM that was used varied greatly in the papers. The quality of counselling was assessed in the papers as being rather poor. The quality of the papers differed for specific assessment criteria. Only an extremely small number of papers could be included, in contrast to other countries. The papers for Germany demonstrate that there is a considerable need for improvement in the quality of counselling in CPs. Also, the deficits identified here for the application of the SPM should be avoided in future papers. It must also be recommended that the SPM be reported in future papers using uniform reporting standards, which are yet to be developed, to ensure better comparability.
Highlights
Depending on the laws in a country, defined establishments are authorised to dispense 2 fundamentally different groups of medications, prescription-only medicines (POM) and over-thecounter medicines (OTC) for which no prescription is required
This study aims to review papers reporting on the use of the simulated patient methodology (SPM) for assessing the quality of counselling in German community pharmacies (CPs)
An extremely small number of papers, unlike other countries, could be included for Germany and all of them were conducted in north-eastern Germany
Summary
Depending on the laws in a country, defined establishments are authorised to dispense 2 fundamentally different groups of medications, prescription-only medicines (POM) and over-thecounter medicines (OTC) for which no prescription is required. 23 CP per 100,000 residents, making it below-average in the EU comparison [5, 6]) is derived from the fact that they must satisfy certain requirements These requirements include providing counselling for medicines that must be conducted by pharmacists but can be carried out by pharmacy technicians and pharmaceutical technical assistants if this has been previously specified by the pharmacy manager [7]. The legally envisaged objective is that the CPs provide an ‘adequate’ quality of counselling [7] This objective is intended to be achieved using the internal quality management system operated by the CPs, whereas external quality assessments remain only a recommendation at this stage [7].
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