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Educational Symposium
New Challenges in Pharmacy Profession
“Pharmacists should move from behind the counter and start serving the public by providing care instead of pills only. There is no future in the mere act of dispensing. That activity can and will be taken over by the internet, machines, and/or hardly trained technicians. The fact that pharmacists have an academic training and they act as health care professionals puts a burden upon them to better serve the community than they currently do.”
Over the past four decades there has been a trend for pharmacy practice to move away from its original focus on medicine supply towards a more inclusive focus on patient care. By taking direct responsibility of patient’s drug therapy and also other aspects related to this, pharmacists can make a unique contribution to the outcome of the drug therapy and to the quality of their patients’ life. The new approach has been given the name pharmaceutical care.
In order to fulfill this obligation, the pharmacist needs to be able to assume many different functions. The concept of the seven-star pharmacist, introduced by World Health Organization (WHO) and taken up by International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) in 2000 in its policy statement on Good Pharmacy Education Practice, sees the pharmacist as a caregiver, communicator, decision-maker, teacher, life-long learner, leader and manager. Recently, a new star has been added to the concept - the role of researcher.
The knowledge base of pharmacy graduates is changing. As new graduates move into professional career, pharmacy practice itself will change, reflecting the new knowledge base of the incomers. However, pharmacists already in the work life were mainly educated on the basis of the old paradigm that was more drug- or product-focused, not patient-focused. If these pharmacists are going to contribute effectively to the new patient-centered pharmaceutical practice, they must have the opportunity to acquire the new knowledge and skills required for their new role.
Some of the topics we consider worthy discussing upon, concerning the new challenges of the pharmaceutical profession are:
- What is Good Pharmacy Practice? How can it vary in different contexts?
- The trends in evidence-based practice, and the use of guidelines to drug choices within specific contexts, emphasizing also the importance of patient beliefs, preferences, knowledge, rights and choices in assuring the best pharmaceutical for each patient, in all situations.
- How should be pharmaceutical care approached by academics, students, pharmacists and the other members of the healthcare team?
- How can pharmacist earn the trust of the doctors so they can be accepted in the health system as real and trustworthy patient caregivers?
- How the curricula can be changed so that it meets the requirements of the pharmacists of tomorrow? How the graduated pharmacy students could start their professional careers so that they would be equipped with modern pharmaceutical skills and being more than just “sales agents”?
- How the graduate pharmacists can change their point of view and how, when and where can they develop new skills to become “eight- star” pharmacists?
- How does the new approach affect healthcare costs and influence the quality of life?