Tiêu đề 1. DEFINITION, SCOPE, OF COMMUNITY PHARMACY, ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF COMMUNITY PHARMACIST.pdf ✅

PHARMD GURU Page 1 DEFINITION:  Community Pharmacy is defined as a place where the medicines are stocked and dispensed to the patients on a valid prescription and where legally permitted without a prescription and also offer various professional services that improves the health of the patient.  World Health Organisation (W.H.O) defines Community Pharmacist as legally qualified, trained health care professional who act as a vital link between the patient and the prescriber. The pharmacist ensures the correct supply of medicines and provides medication usage information both to patients and prescribers and helps in minimizing the drug related problems through clinical pharmacy services. A community pharmacist should: (i) Have a sound background of pharmaceutical care, pharmacotherapy, and health promotion. (ii) Have good communication skills with patients and other healthcare providers. (iii) Maintain a high degree of standard in products, services, and communication. (iv) Record and maintain his documents in order. The types of community pharmacies Include:  Independent Community Pharmacy: It is owned by an individual (as proprietary concerns) or group of individuals (firms or companies).  Chain Community Pharmacy: It is a corporate organization with multiple outlets groups.  Hospital-based Community Pharmacy: It is either the hospital or a society formed by the hospital that operates the pharmacy In the hospital offering medicines at discounts. 1. DEFINITION, SCOPE, OF COMMUNITY PHARMACY, ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF COMMUNITY PHARMACIST
PHARMD GURU Page 2 “In short community pharmacy is the drug use, control and effective application of knowledge of ethics, that assures optimal drug safety in the distribution and use of medicines and hence, it ensures maximum well-being of patients while they are on drug therapy.” SCOPE OF COMMUNITY PHARMACY: Community Pharmacy has a large number of scopes or approaches, which are related to patient counseling and patient drug control. DRUG INFORMATION ABOUT THEIR ACTION: Besides proper understanding of the biological and physical science, community pharmacy also provides grasp on chemistry, pharmacology, toxicology, routes of administration, stability and other information regarding drugs. The community pharmacy is an excellent institute and an educational laboratory for physician and pharmacist carrying out an obligation to provide necessary and fully authoritative information on drug. Community pharmacy acquires the knowledge by personal and individual contacts with the physician but also from the pharmacy and therapeutic committee. Community pharmacy also ensures the pharmaceutical quality of drugs and dispensing of drugs and also responsible in selection of a suitable product in the market. DRUG UTILIZATION: Community pharmacy helps to develop charging policies for pharmaceutical services. It should also be able to implement an adequate system for stock and inventory control. Community pharmacy also decides the proper regimen of drug to the patient. It also gives the knowledge to how to administer the drug to the patient. Stock control reports on prescription and controlled drugs dispensed, drug purchases, inspection and improvement in operation and such other aspect which demand attention.
PHARMD GURU Page 3 DRUG DISTRIBUTION: Considerable quantities of drugs are localized physically outside the pharmacy. It is necessary to have control for internal distribution of drugs for patients. The patients who are hospitalized may require intensive drug therapy, controlled procedures which will allow rapid rechecks of drug source and quality. The potentialities of automated dispensing at the wards level bring further emphasis to establishment of correct controls for drug distribution in this situation. DRUG SELECTION: In the field of community pharmacy the „rational drug therapy‟ plays a important role for the selection of drugs which will be given to the patients to encounter the disease. It is defined as the use of an appropriate, efficacious, safe and cost-effective drug given for the right indication, in the right dose and at right interval of time and for the right duration of time (Dosage regimen). It involves various type of activities like- a) Adoption of essential drugs concept. b) Training of health professionals (counseling of health in Rational Drug Therapy/ Rational Drug Use). c) Maintenance of data based on clinical guidelines. d) Consumer education and regulatory strategies if the Rational Drug Use (RDU) is not proper it leads to illness, adverse drug reactions (ADRs), increase cost of medication and treatment to the patient. It is also known as “Essential Drug Concept” (EDC) PATIENT COUNSELING AND EVALUATING:  Dialogues between patients and physicians regarding the indication, proper use and potential adverse effects of non-prescription drugs (NPDs) should be different as compared, when if the physician has written the prescription.  In the era, the cost considerations are greater than ever, NPDs should be considered and referred when appropriate, as alternatives to prescription drugs.
PHARMD GURU Page 4  So, educating & counseling by community pharmacist & evaluating the drugs (non- prescribed & prescribed drugs) are really helpful in minimizing any serious effects. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF COMMUNITY PHARMACIST: The consultative group of the World Health Organization listed the following responsibilities as the professional responsibilities of the community pharmacists. The International Pharmaceutical Federation also confirms the same.  Processing of the prescriptions  Dispensing  Patient counseling  Drug information services  Health promotion  Health screening services  Responding to symptoms of minor ailments  Consultation to General Practitioners PROCESSING OF THE PRESCRIPTIONS: Pharmacists are expected to review and check the prescriptions for the legality, appropriateness and potential drug related problems in the prescription. Upon satisfaction with the content of the prescription, the pharmacist will dispense the prescribed medicines. DISPENSING:  The meaning of “dispensing” according to Oxford dictionary is to make up and give out the medicines on a prescription.  In the early days as the pharmacists were engaged in compounding activity, the prescribed medicines were appropriately compounded and dispensed to the patient.  Currently, prepackaged medicines as various pharmaceutical dosage forms are available in the market, thus the compounding and dispensing activity has become obsolete.