Pharmaceutical Care and Specialty Practice

Abstract

The practice of pharmaceutical care is a possible goal for all pharmacists' professional maturation. Six issues exist in which pharmaceutical care may represent a radical departure from some contemporary clinical practices. Because no profession is capable of providing pharmaceutical care singlehandedly at an acceptable level of quality, it is necessary to construct systems that organize the necessary variety of professionals and patients for managing drug therapy. In such a system, pharmacists can organize specialty practice around a strong general practice of pharmacy that is able to coordinate drug therapy and manage for outcomes, organize around the practice of medicine as if pharmacy were a medical specialty, or merge into the organization of a hospital or other healthcare organization.