Challenges To The Pharmacist Profession From Escalating Pharmaceutical Demand

Abstract

Unexpected growth in medication use has escalated demand for pharmacists that has outpaced supply. Responses to the pharmacist shortage include larger workloads and greater use of pharmacist extenders and technology. As the profession has moved from a product orientation (dispensing medications) to a patient focus, clinical training requirements have expanded. However, structural and process barriers, particularly in community and retail pharmacies, must be addressed to improve the medication-use process. These issues merit greater attention from health care leaders and policymakers.

Factors Affecting Prepharmacy Students' Perceptions of the Professional Role of Pharmacists

“…28,29 Pharmacists' commitment to their profession will be tested frequently by the likelihood of increased future demands on time and resources. 30 Results provide encouraging evidence that students with unpaid employment experience exhibited higher levels of professional commitment. This finding suggests that unpaid pharmacy work experience may facilitate students' development of professional commitment.…”

Community Pharmacists Attitude Towards Professional Practice in Penang, Malaysia

“…[16] However, the pharmacists approach deeply rooted in the traditional practice of pharmacy pertaining mainly to distributive practice model and is somewhat distant from the other models of practice such as pharmaceutical care, drug information and self-care. [17] In answering questions relating to pharmaceutical care, refer the patient to the doctor when necessary scored the highest whereas, keeping records about patients' medical condition(s), medication and progress and communicate patient's progress on their drug therapy to their doctor scored the lowest score. [8] This may reflect that respondents are not fully convinced that pharmaceutical care activities are their responsibility as pharmacist and are still somewhat distant from the concept as a provider of patient care.…”

Evaluation and awareness of over the counter use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

“…It was reported that pharmacists provided higher quality information regarding OTC use of medications (Sahebi and Vahidi, 2009). But during rush-hours, pharmacists are too busy to evaluate patients' conditions and to provide them with necessary information about proper medication use (Cooksey et al, 2002). Second, this false assumption that OTC medications are harmless might lead to carelessly unsupervised usage of NSAIDs (Wilcox et al, 2005) and might cause customers refrain from getting advice.…”