Community pharmacists and telepharmacy: a narrative review of key barriers and facilitators

Purpose of Review: Telepharmacy has emerged as a digital extension of pharmacy services, offering remote consultations, medication reviews, and prescription verifications. While adoption has accelerated, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, challenges persist in community pharmacy settings. This review explored the key barriers and facilitators influencing the implementation of telepharmacy from the perspectives of community pharmacists. Source of Information: A literature search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, and CINAHL to identify original research articles published between 2014–2024. Studies were included if they examined community pharmacists' perspectives on telepharmacy, and highlighted barriers and facilitators to its implementation. Identified studies were screened, and data were extracted and grouped into themes for synthesis. This review was structured in line with key principles of the Scale for the Assessment of Narrative Review Articles (SANRA). Key Findings: Eleven studies met the inclusion criteria. The most reported barriers included regulatory uncertainty, technological and infrastructural limitations, financial constraints, workload, privacy concerns, and limited digital literacy among both pharmacists and patients. Conversely, key facilitators included pharmacists' willingness to adopt telepharmacy, technical advancements, improved patient access to care, governmental support, and recognition of telepharmacy's role in public health and healthcare accessibility. Conclusion: Telepharmacy presents a viable solution to bridging healthcare access gaps, particularly in underserved communities. However, its full integration into community pharmacy practice depends on addressing regulatory, financial, and technological barriers while building pharmacists' willingness and must be supported by government policies. Future efforts should focus on developing guidelines, standardising digital infrastructure, and providing training to equip pharmacists with the necessary skills for digital health care. Expanding telepharmacy within community pharmacies has the potential to enhance medicines management, improve healthcare accessibility, and optimise patient outcomes.