Scoping review of entrepreneurship in community pharmacy: Bringing together education and practice

Abstract

Objective

The evolving landscape of community pharmacy practice emphasizes the integration of entrepreneurship with clinical roles, recognizing pharmacists as crucial primary healthcare providers. This scoping review explores the community pharmacy entrepreneurship for both education and practice. Key themes and gaps in the literature are identified to highlight areas for collaboration between educators and practitioners.

Methods

A scoping review following the Arksey and O'Malley framework and JBI's guidelines, to ensure methodological rigor. Literature searches were performed across SCOPUS, PubMed, and EMBASE (via Ovid), supplemented by citation searches. The strategy focused on entrepreneurship, primary healthcare, and pharmacy education. After screening and removing duplicates, relevant publications were selected through team discussion, resolving discrepancies by consensus. All included papers were coded for key themes and patterns, followed by thematic analysis to uncover key insights and trends in the field.

Results

The review identified 39 relevant articles, with 24 focusing on pharmacy education, 11 on pharmacy practice, and 4 addressing both. Key themes in education included the need for entrepreneurship education, teaching methods, student interest in pharmacy ownership, essential skills, and knowledge gaps. In practice, themes included the dual role of pharmacists, gaps in entrepreneurial knowledge, entrepreneurial orientation, and the importance of fostering an entrepreneurial spirit and culture.

Conclusion

Disparities were observed between pharmacy education and practice. Education literature emphasized preparing students for entrepreneurial roles, while practice literature focused on real-world challenges and the need for essential entrepreneurial knowledge, skills, and attitudes.