Nowadays, it is very important to put an emphasis on widely understood teamwork. This is of great importance for achieving and maintaining success in all areas, especially in medicine. This kind of unity has many advantages, including unique ideas that are very helpful in a competitive environment, improve performance and knowledge, and create stronger supportive work relationships. Patient's health can be improved by using comprehensive treatment. This provides an urgent need for multidisciplinary partnership in the medical community. Optimal pharmacological treatment is crucial to achieving treatment goals. To ensure excellent quality of medical care, interprofessional cooperation between physicians and pharmacists and/or other medical professionals is necessary. Their complementary knowledge and experience can lead to improved health outcomes and can also reduce treatment costs. There are also many barriers and difficulties in legal systems that would allow for more effective inter-professional cooperation. The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to emphasizing the role of the pharmacist, increasing powers, and at the same time to teamwork, sometimes forced by the situation. The purpose of this publication is to view the literature on the cooperation of physicians and pharmacists in the provision of medical services for patients. Professional cooperation has been well known in many countries for years, as it is a key medium supporting optimized patient care. Analyzing the challenges and approaches can lead to better and improved health care.

Background: Community pharmacies in many countries around the world provide healthcare services for patients. Pharmacists trained as medication experts provide a wide range of patient care services related to medication therapy, patient education, disease prevention, and health promotion. Professional training, expertise, and skills qualify pharmacists to engage in health screenings. These screening programs performed by community pharmacists can help to identify risk factors, facilitate early detection of common diseases, and assist physicians with making effective diagnoses. Objectives: In this study, we created and tested a novel model to provide professional monitoring and counseling on blood pressure by community pharmacists. The aims of the study were to identify the prevalence of elevated blood pressure among patients visiting a community pharmacy and describe the demographic characteristics of patients with hypertension (sex, age, education, body weight, and hypertension risk factors). Methods: The research project was conducted in an accredited community pharmacy in Poznan, Poland, from January to April 2019. A total of 118 anonymous patients (30.5% men and 69.5% women) participated in this study. To qualify for this study, participants had to be older than 18 years of age and have no previous diagnosis of hypertension or other cardiovascular disease. Results: Based on the blood pressure screenings, 61.9% of patients were qualified for the standard consultation (SC: normal blood pressure), 21.2% for the intensive consultation (IC: normal blood pressure and hypertension risk factor), 16.9% patients with elevated blood pressure for the high-risk consultation (HRC: referred to a physician), and 3.4% received a diagnosis of hypertension. We qualified 35.6% with a high-pressure value (greater than 140/90 mmHg). Conclusions: The novel model for blood pressure control screening and counseling implemented in a generally accessible community pharmacy may help with early detection of hypertension problems, lead to initiation of effective patient counseling by a community pharmacist, and result in early referral of the patient to a physician.

Orodispersible Films (ODFs) are drug delivery systems manufactured with a wide range of methods on a big scale or for customized medicines and small-scale pharmacy. Both ODFs and their fabrication methods have certain limitations. Many pharmaceutical companies and academic research centers across the world cooperate in order to cope with these issues and also to find new formulations for a wide array of APIs what could make their work profitable for them and beneficial for patients as well. The number of pending patent applications and granted patents with their innovative approaches makes the progress in the manufacturing of ODFs unquestionable. The number of commercially available ODFs is still growing. However, some of them were discontinued and are no longer available on the markets. This review aims to summarize currently marketed ODFs and those withdrawn from sale and also provides an insight into recently published studies concerning orodispersible films, emphasizing of utilized APIs. The work also highlights the attempts of scientific communities to overcome ODF’s manufacturing methods limitations.

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Background: Following the example of other countries, it is very important to educate patients on the correct use of inhalers by properly trained healthcare professionals, including pharmacists. Objectives: The aim of the study was to assess the quality and comprehensiveness of professional advice given by pharmacists on the use of inhalers, which was determined by the pharmacists’ level of training. Methods: The study was conducted from June 2019 to March 2020. 150 pharmacists from Poznan and Warsaw (Poland) were involved. Before the study began, the professional education of 240 pharmacists was conducted in Warsaw to implement standard operating procedures. The study used the model of a mystery shopper. Results: The conversation with a trained pharmacist lasted on average 5.5 min, with an untrained one—3.0 min (p < 0.0001). Placebo inhalers were used more often by trained pharmacists during patients’ education (p < 0.0001). Moreover, 10.3% of untrained pharmacists did not provide any education. Additionally, untrained employees’ quality of advice was assessed on an average of 3.5 points, while trained ones—7.6 points (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: This study has shown that there is a need for professional training among pharmacists in Poland, which translates into better patient education in the field of inhalation techniques.

Education of community pharmacy workers is a very important part of everyday practice, especially in professional counseling (PC) which brings many health benefits for the patients. The aim of the study was to investigate if the community pharmacy specialization has an influence on the scope and quality of counsels given by pharmacy workers during PC scheme implementation in community pharmacies. The research was carried out between May and November 2017. After PC scheme implementation in community pharmacies, an anonymous questionnaire was administered to 245 pharmacy workers in Poznan and Warsaw (241 women, 4 men): 146 pharmacists (143 women, 3 men) and 99 pharmacy technicians (98 women, 1 man). In the conducted study, 14.7% of pharmacists had community pharmacy specialization (according to Polish law). Pharmacists with a community pharmacy specialization referred patients more often to physicians (p < 0.0001), as well as after earlier physician consultation (p < 0.0001). Furthermore, they often noticed the interaction between drugs in patientsí self-treatment and in the treatment ordered by a physician (p = 0.001). The indication of medication contraindications after a physician consultation was also significantly higher within pharmacists with specialization (p < 0.0001). It can be noted that pharmacists with community pharmacy specialization were asked more often for self-treatment consultation and after physician visits (p < 0.0001). Development of PC in Polish community pharmacy, especially among pharmacy owners well-educated in community pharmacy specialization, may help to increase the safety of pharmacotherapy.

Background: Following the example of other countries, it is very important to educate patients on the correct use of inhalers by properly trained healthcare professionals, including pharmacists.Objectives: The aim of the study was to assess the quality and comprehensiveness of professional advice given by pharmacists on the use of inhalers, which was determined by the pharmacists’ level of training. Methods: The study was conducted from June 2019 to March 2020. 150 pharmacists from Poznan and Warsaw (Poland) were involved. Before the study began, the professional education of 240 pharmacists was conducted in Warsaw to implement standard operating procedures. The study used the model of a mystery patient.Results: The conversation with a trained pharmacist lasted on average 5.5 minutes, with an untrained one - 3.0 minutes. Placebo inhalers were used more often by trained pharmacists during patients’ education. 10.3% of untrained pharmacists did not provide any education. Additionally, untrained employees quality of advice were assessed on an average of 3.5 points, while trained ones - 7.6 points. Conclusions: This study has shown that there is a need for professional training among pharmacists in Poland, which translates into better patient education in the field of inhalation techniques.

Background: Getting to know the experience gained so far between professions such as pharmacists and nurses allows for introducing changes aimed at better cooperation, and that can improve the quality of patient care. The aim was to obtain the nurses’ opinions on the ongoing cooperation with pharmacists and to analyze the possibilities of cooperation between these groups. Methods: The survey was conducted from January to March 2021 among 124 nurses in Poland. The link to the electronic questionnaire was sent by e-mails sourced from online social groups for nurses. Before completing the questionnaire, each participant was informed about the anonymous research and the purpose of the data obtained. Results: In total, 80.6% of the respondents confirmed that the pharmacist is a reliable advisor in the field of general information about a drug and 60.9% in the field of clinical information about the drug, and 54.8% of the nurses agreed that a pharmacist should carry out such practices as measuring blood pressure or glucose in a community pharmacy, with 70.1% agreeing that a pharmacist should provide pharmaceutical care in a community pharmacy in the future and the most convinced of this were people with a master’s degree. Of the respondents, 74.1% indicated that pharmacist advice should be fully reimbursed by the National Health Fund or another insurance institution. Conclusions: The study showed that the nursing community appreciates the role of pharmacists and has a positive attitude towards cooperation with this professional group. What is more is that it indicates willingness for interdisciplinary cooperation.