Structural process and implementation programs of pharmaceutical care in different countries

Abstract

Pharmaceutical care started in the nineties in the United States and has rapidly extended in many other countries. Although there are different trends, such as clinical pharmacy services, cognitive services, medication management, medication review, they all share the same philosophy and objectives, namely "the responsible provision of drug therapy for the purpose of achieving definite outcomes that improve a patient's quality of life". To attain these objectives, a pharmaceutical care process has to be followed point-by-point in order to detect possible medication-related problems. Furthermore, pharmacists have to work together with patients, and ultimately with physicians to establish a care plan. This methodology requires basic skills of documentation and communication and therefore, it is important to establish implementation programs aimed at community-, hospital-, and consultant pharmacists, and to consider PC as a basic element of University teaching programs and postgraduate studies. Moreover, there are still barriers that hinder the provision of this service and have to be overcome. In this article, we have revised the implementation process and the existing projects in many countries and we conclude that despite the enormous amount of work, there is still much to be done from sides of Administration and pharmacists themselves.