Pharmacy practice and First Peoples health equity: a scoping review protocol

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this review is to examine and describe global pharmacy practice strategies and interventions designed to achieve health equity for First Peoples. Introduction: Access to medicines and quality use of medicines is critical to achieving health equity for First Peoples. Pharmacists are uniquely placed to lead the charge in transforming current health systems, reducing health disparities, and bolstering the movement toward health equity. Inclusion criteria: Global studies describing pharmacy practice strategies and interventions designed to achieve health equity for First Peoples will be considered for inclusion in the review. Studies relating to all areas of pharmacy practice, including community and clinical pharmacy, social, administrative, pharmaceutical sciences, practice, teaching, research, advocacy, or service relevant to the review’s objective will also be considered for inclusion. The types of studies to be included are qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods, systematic reviews, scoping reviews, literature reviews, and gray literature. Methods: This review will be conducted in accordance with JBI methodology for scoping reviews. Embase, MEDLINE, Scopus, CINAHL, and gray literature sources will be searched from 1998 to present. Titles, abstracts, and full texts will be screened against the inclusion criteria. Strategies and interventions identified in the included reviews will be mapped to a published framework, outlining actionable strategies for pharmacy practice inclusion in sustainable efforts to achieve health equity. Qualitative content analysis and descriptive statistics will be utilized with data presented in tables, accompanied by a narrative. Review registration: Open Science Framework osf.io/qa64b