Pharmacy education in China focuses on pharmaceutical sciences, with the bachelor of science (BS) of pharmacy as the entry-level degree. Pharmacy practice curricula in these programs are centered on compounding, dispensing, pharmacy administration, and laboratory experiences, which are the traditional responsibilities for pharmacists. Additional graduate-level training is available at the master of science (MS) and the doctor of philosophy (PhD) levels, most of which concentrate on drug discovery and drug development research. Presently, the emphasis in practice is beginning to shift to clinical pharmacy. With this change, additional degree offerings are being developed to meet the growing demand for clinical pharmacists. There is also interest in developing more clinical skills in practicing pharmacists through additional non-degree training. The Ministry of Education is considering a proposal for an entry-level professional degree of master and/or doctor in clinical pharmacy similar to the doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) degree in the United States.

Background The clinical pharmacist has been an important partner in clinical treatment team. In China, there is no systematic review to evaluate the effectiveness of clinical pharmacy services on patients' outcomes such as hospitalization days, readmission rate and mortality. Aim of the review To investigate the impact of clinical pharmacist services on patients' length of hospitalization, readmission and mortality in China. Methods A literature search was performed in PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, clinicaltrials.gov, and a Chinese database (up to January 2019). Randomized control trials or pre-to post-intervention comparison studies were included to investigate the impact of clinical pharmacist-led interventions on the length of stay, readmission rate and mortality of inpatients. Basic information, intervention and therapeutic area were extracted. Results After screening all articles from the mentioned databases, 14 studies were included for meta-analysis and subgroup analysis. Most studies focused on cardiology and respiratory diseases. Results show that clinical pharmacist services can reduce the length of stay of inpatients (MD: − 3.00, 95% CI − 4.72 to − 1.29, P < 0.01) and the readmission rate (RR 0.44, 95% CI 0.35-0.56, P < 0.01) as well as the mortality of patients during hospitalization (RR 0.57, 95% CI 0.35-0.92, P = 0.02). Conclusions Clinical pharmacist-led interventions could significantly reduce Chinese patients' length of hospitalization and readmission rate. More studies are needed to confirm the relationship between the clinical pharmacistled interventions and patients' mortality. Keywords China • Clinical pharmacist • Length of stay • Mortality • Readmission rate Impacts on practice • Clinical pharmacy services in China can significant reduce patients' hospitalization days, readmission rate and mortality during hospitalization. • This review can support the further development of clinical pharmacy in China and thus improve patient outcomes.

PurposeTo evaluate potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) prevalence and predictors in community healthcare institutions (CHIs) for the elderly.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective observational study, deriving data of patients aged ≥60 from 66 CHIs in Beijing, 2014‐2018. The system of Criteria of PIM for Older Adults in China was applied to identify PIMs. The primary outcome was the prevalence of visits with at least one PIM; secondary outcomes were the frequency and rate per thousand visits of specific PIMs. We used descriptive analysis and generalized linear models to analyzed PIMs and the predictors, and marginal effects methods were applied to estimate the mean adjusted PIMs prevalence.ResultsOverall, 4 528 884 elderly patient visits from 2014 to 2018 were eligible for inclusion. A total of 719 757 PIMs were detected, with 14.1% of the visits contained at least one PIM. PIM prevalence was significantly correlated with age, number of prescribed medications and number of diagnoses. Overall, 6.0 per thousand elderly patients in CHIs were exposed to at least one high‐risk PIM, while 117.5 per thousand were exposed to at least one low‐risk PIM. In 2018, 20% of GPs were responsible for more than half of overall PIM visits.ConclusionPrescribing of PIMs for older adults is common in CHIs in China, especially for patients who are aged, having multiple medications and diagnostic diseases. Strategies should be developed to enhance prescribing quality for geriatric patients, with special targeting of doctors responsible for a high number of PIMs.