[Review and analysis of the evidence on the role and the impact of pharmacists' activities: Development of an online tool]

Background: Considering the increase in healthcare expenses, stakeholders need to make choices, including healthcare program funding, and professional activities to prioritise.

Purpose: The main objective was to list evidences about the role and impact of pharmacists.

Methods: Themes were chosen according to three dimensions of the pharmacist profession: (1) activities, (2) healthcare programs and (3) disorders. A literature search was conducted for each theme. A bibliographic data sheet was completed for each article. An analytic data sheet, consisting of descriptive and impact outcomes, was also completed for the most relevant articles. For each theme, a synthesis was elaborated. The website Impact Pharmacie (http://impactpharmacie.org) was developed.

Results: A total of 70 synthesis were written. A total of 1442 articles were included with a bibliographic data sheet, and 914 with an analytic data sheet. Six hundred and fifty articles had positive outcomes on the role of the pharmacist, representing 803 different positive outcome markers. Pharmacists had positive outcomes on morbidity (n=212), adherence (n=92), costs (n=36), adverse effects (n=26), drug errors (n=31) and mortality (n=13).

Conclusion: This descriptive study presents the review of the evidence on the role and the impact of pharmacists activities, which led to the Impact Pharmacie website. This francophone website can contribute to support clinical pharmacy development, and to a better use of pharmacists in healthcare.