The role of the clinical pharmacist in mental health hospital-in-the-home: A scoping review

The concept of integrating a clinical pharmacist (CP) within a Hospital-in-the-Home (HiTH) program is relatively new. Little is known about the role of a pharmacist in HiTH programs focused on mental health (MH). To describe the role of a CP within an MH-HiTH program, focusing on the specific tasks performed by a pharmacist in this position, their benefits and limitations. MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, PsycINFO, Web of Science and the grey literature were searched without any date limits for references in English that included 2 or more of the following key terms (or their synonyms): “HiTH”, “clinical pharmacist” and “mental health”. Two reviewers independently screened and analysed the data. Of 60,482 screened references, 6 included all 3 key terms: 2 were HiTH guideline documents, 2 were conference abstracts and 2 were journal articles. These papers discussed MH-HiTH programs or similar home-care services where a CP was incorporated in the treating team to address medication management and adherence during a home visit. There is evidence that MH-HiTH CPs identify and resolve medication-related problems (MRPs), as well as improve medication adherence, patient care, hospital admission rates and emergency department presentations. An additional 54 references including 2 key terms provided corroborating evidence of an MH-HiTH CP role focused on improving patient care via 4 key groups of tasks: clinical pharmacy, mental healthcare, home medicines review and facilitation of care transition through medication reconciliation and follow-up. Although there is currently a paucity of literature describing the incorporation of a CP in an MH-HiTH program, preliminary evidence shows it can improve medication management. This has potential to improve patient outcomes as has been seen in similar home-based settings, but limitations such as time constraints are notable barriers. More robust studies are needed to evaluate these outcomes. •Literature is scarce about clinical pharmacist roles in Hospital-in-the-Home teams.•Clinical pharmacists may improve outcomes in home-based mental healthcare.•This scoping review is the first to review the literature on this topic.