Pharmaceutical care, European developments in concepts, implementation, teaching, and research: a review

Abstract

This article discusses the concept of pharmaceutical care especially from the European perspective. It tries to clarify the current status of pharmaceutical care research and implementation, and if and how it can be part of the practice of pharmacy. Pharmaceutical care basically means improving the medication use process in order to improve outcomes, including the patients' quality of life, and that involves a focus change for pharmacy from product to patient. This change in focus also implies that the pharmacy curriculum should be adapted, in order for the pharmacist to be able to acquire new knowledge and skills. In most countries this change currently is taking place but not in very deliberate or structured manner. Some basic decisions have to be made, in order to guarantee that every patient receives pharmaceutical care when needed.

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“…As an example let us consider a pharmacy, where the role of competence management is increasing all the time as they are moving away from their original role on drug supply towards a more inclusive focus on pharmaceutical care [6,7,8]. This new trend sets significant challenges on pharmacists' skills as healthcare is a field where the fast development of drug treatment and the introduction of new drugs require specialized skills and knowledge that need to be renewed frequently [9,10,11].…”

Implementing a Data Infrastructure for a Pharmaceutical Community

“…In recent years there has been a trend in pharmacy practice to move away from its original role on drug supply towards a more inclusive focus on patient care [1,2,3]. This trend in pharmacy practice is called pharmaceutical care [4,5,6].…”