Establishment and evolution of a clinical pharmacy mental health hospital-in-the-home service: An autoethnography

Background: Hospital-in-the-Home (HiTH) services provide inpatient-style care for patients at home. While relatively well known in non-psychiatric settings, little is known about mental health (MH)-HiTH services, with even less known about the role of a clinical pharmacist (CP) within a MH-HiTH multidisciplinary team (MDT).Objective: The aim of this paper is to describe the evolution of the first MH-HiTH MDT in Western Australia and the various facets of the CP's role integrated within the service.Method: The integration of a CP into a non-traditional practice setting represents a cultural change in the pharmacy profession. Hence, this paper utilised a descriptive-realistic style of the autoethnographic method, with the narrative written in the first-person point of view of the first author (M.F.). It specifically focused on the tasks performed by the team's CP. A narrative analysis approach was used to reflect on the reason these tasks are performed, the potential benefits and limitations of integrating a CP into the team and subsequent cultural in-fluence on the pharmacy profession.Findings: The service commenced in 2014, consisting of an MDT of a consultant psychiatrist, a psychiatric registrar, clinical nurses, an occupational therapist, a social worker and a CP. Starting with 4 then 8 virtual beds, it was gradually increased to 16 virtual beds. The MH-HiTH CP combined hospital clinical tasks - e.g. medication reconciliation and therapeutic drug monitoring - with home medication reviews as part of the MH-HiTH MDT. Lessons learnt include proactively integrating and flexibly adapting into a novel practice setting.Conclusion: There is scope to embed a CP within an MH-HiTH MDT; the major advantage is the inclusion of a comprehensive medication management service. While this is a promising new area where the pharmacy pro-fession is becoming engaged, more studies are needed to quantify and confirm the stated benefits of such service.

Automated summary

This paper describes the first MH-HiTH MDT in Western Australia and the role of a clinical pharmacist within the service. The integration of a pharmacist into a non-traditional practice setting represents a cultural change in the pharmacy profession. The major advantage of embedding a clinical pharmacist within an MH-HiTH MDT is the inclusion of a comprehensive medication management service.