Abstract

Pharmaceutical care (PC) has traditionally been the domain of pharmacists, yet the evolving demands of primary health-care (PHC) systems worldwide have positioned nurses as pivotal contributors to medication management and patient safety. This paper investigates how nurses in PHC settings perceive, enact, and evaluate pharmaceutical care activities. Using a mixed methods design, 312 nurses from 24 community health centres across three European regions completed a structured questionnaire (quantitative arm) while 34 nurses participated in semi-structured focus groups (qualitative arm). Quantitative data were analysed with descriptive statistics, logistic regression and factor analysis; qualitative data were processed through thematic content analysis. Findings reveal that (i) Nurses routinely perform core PC tasks medication reconciliation, adherence counselling, and monitoring of therapeutic outcomes yet feel constrained by limited pharmacological training and ambiguous role definitions; (ii) Institutional support, interprofessional collaboration and continued education are strong predictors of high-quality PC delivery (OR = 2.74, 95% CI = 1.68–4.48, p < 0.001); (iii) Nurses’ perceived impact on clinical outcomes aligns with reduced medication related problems (MRPs) and improved patient-reported satisfaction. The paper discusses implications for policy, curricula, and interprofessional practice, and proposes a competency-based framework to integrate nursing led PC into PHC sustainably.

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