A framework for advanced technology medicines from the perspective of community pharmacists; with or without technology

Abstract Nowadays, the number of medicines manufactured using advanced technologies such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, and 3D printing is increasing along with the accelerated pace of technological change. Evaluating high technology medicines from the perspective of community pharmacists is important for the quality of the pharmacy practice. The aim is to analyze the knowledge, attitude, and behavior of community pharmacists regarding advanced technology medicines and to examine the social and ethical aspects from the pharmacist's perspective. A face-to-face cross-sectional survey was conducted with each of the 879 community pharmacists in Istanbul using a stratified sampling method. In this context, the gaps in pharmacists' knowledge of high technology medicines were determined. It has been found that the pharmacists' level of knowledge and willingness to learn new technologies differs according to the current education levels of the pharmacists and diversity in patient profiles. The pharmacists should close the knowledge gaps and update their information about medicines that are manufactured via the implementation of advanced technologies. The more pharmacists adapt to technology, the better guidance they can offer to society. This will also ensure that communication between the pharmacist and the patient to be built on trust, and significantly improve pharmacy practice.

Analysis of cognition, attitude and barriers to community pharmaceutical care among family doctor team members in Shanghai suburb / 药学实践杂志

Objective To evaluate the cognition, attitude, and barriers of family doctor team members in chongming district of Shanghai to pharmacists joining the team and providing community pharmaceutical care. To provide the reference resources for the establishment of community pharmaceutical care management mode with appropriate suburban characteristics. Methods In a cross-section study conducted in 2020, an online questionnaire was provided to family doctor teams in 18 townships in Chongming District through group WeChat. Descriptive statistical data were used to analyze the cognition, attitude and barrier of family physician team members to community pharmaceutical care. Results Among the 555 participants in the study, 351 (63.24%) were female, 187 general practitioners (33.69%), 226 nurses (40.72%), and 142 public health physicians (25.59%). There were statistically significant differences in CPC cognition among the three classes of family doctor team members (P<0.05). 126 nurses (51.22%) and 84 public health physicians (68.85%) claimed never heard of CPC. 11.48% public health physicians and 23.58% nurses were familiar with the work content and responsibilities of community clinical pharmacists. General practitioners showed relatively high proportion of 34.76%. 34.22% of general practitioners held a "disagree attitude" against that "community pharmaceutical care can improve the medication efficacy for patients". "Insufficient investment in the health sector" and "insufficient community pharmacists" were the main obstacles to the development of community pharmaceutical care. Conclusion The attitude of family doctors in Chongming area to community pharmaceutical care was conservative. Public healthcare persons and nurses had a low awareness to community pharmaceutical care. The development of community pharmaceutical care was limited by the lack of financial investment and manpower.

Factors Influencing Interpersonal Work of Community Pharmacists / 社会薬学

The purpose of this study was to clarify the factor structure of the diversifying interpersonal work of pharmacists and its influential factors. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted for pharmacists registered with an internet research company. We collected data on respondents’ basic characteristics (gender and age), years of experience as a pharmacist, whether the respondents were certified as pharmacists, home-care experience, participation in study sessions and workshops, and experiences related to medication support. Factor analysis revealed three main factors from 26 items regarding pharmacists’ interpersonal work: Factor 1, “basic abilities of patient medication record management and medication counseling,” Factor 2, “clinical knowledge and assessment ability,” and Factor 3, “cooperation and support system.” Multiple regression analysis revealed a significant association between age and Factor 1 (β=−0.131, P<0.001). Home-care experience was associated with Factor 2 (β=0.076, P=0.013) and Factor 3 (β=0.115, P<0.001). Participation in study sessions and workshops were significantly associated with all the factors (Factor 1: β=0.103, P=0.001, Factor 2: β=0.247, P<0.001, Factor 3: β=0.238, P<0.001). This study clarified the factor structure of interpersonal work performed by community pharmacists. It is suggested that providing educational programs based on pharmacists’ ages and strengthening regional cooperation such as home medical care are necessary to standardize the quality of pharmacists’ interpersonal work.

Health-related Quality of Life among Community Pharmacists

Introduction:The role of community pharmacists (CPs) has kept on changing. Due to the evolving role of CPs, it is important to know its impact on the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among CPs. Besides, the literature on the HRQoL of CPs is not being enriched, there is an urge to carry out a study to evaluate the HRQoL among CPs. This study aimed to examine the association between the socio-demographic factors and the HRQoLamongCPs. Methodology: A set of questions related to the HRQoL has been adopted from a pre-validated questionnaire, the Duke Health Profile and contextualized it to measure study outcomes. The target population in this study was the registered CPs that were practicing. The site of the study included all the chain and independent pharmacies. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS)version 22.0 was used to analyze the data and the significance level was set at p≤0.05. Variousdomains of the Duke Health Profile (DHP) were calculated using the provided formula Results: A total of 172 respondents were included in this study. Several HRQoL domains were significantly associated with socio-demographic factors. The univariate analysis illustrated that mental and general healthstatehad significant associations with age, practice setting was significantly associated with the mental health state, the salary was significantly associated with self-esteem and mental health was significantly associated with length of service and practice setting. Dysfunction dimensions of anxiety, anxiety-depression, and pain were significantly associated withgender. Conclusion: Gender, age, length of service, salary and practice setting were the risk factors for HRQoL among CPs

Predictors of Job and Workplace Satisfaction among Community Pharmacists

Aims: This study aimed to assess the current levels of job and workplace satisfactionamong community pharmacists (CPs) and to explore the factors that can affect their job and workplace satisfaction. Methods: A self-administered research tool (questionnaire) was developed based on previously published literature. After its reliability and validity measurements, the questionnaire was distributed to the target population and data was collected. Data wereentered into Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) ver. 22.0 and analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square,and multiple regression analysis. The level of significance (α) was set at 0.05.Results: CPs reported high satisfaction (76.7%) concerning their jobs. Only 23.3% of them were not satisfied with their current job. Univariate analysis showed that job and workplace satisfactionamong CPs was not significantly associated with gender, age, length of service, position and salary. However, the univariate analysis demonstrated a significant difference between practice settings and job and workplace satisfactionwith p= 0.013. Among the respondents, those who worked in the chain pharmacies (83.7%) expressed greater job and workplace satisfaction, which is 16% higher than those working in independent pharmacies (67.6%). Therefore, practice setting was shown as the predictor of job and workplace satisfactionamong CPs by using multiple regression analysis. Conclusion: Overall, CPswere relatively satisfied with their current job. Our results had reinforced previous studies that reported that practice settings can affect pharmacists’ job and workplace satisfaction.

Exploring The Interface Between Complementary Medicine And Community Pharmacy In Malaysia – A Survey Of Pharmacists

@#The use of complementary medicine (CM) is on the rise worldwide. In Malaysia, CM is available as over-the-counter products in community pharmacies and consumers expect pharmacists to be knowledgeable about CM. However, little is known about Malaysian community pharmacists’ attitude and knowledge of CM. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the extent of integration of CM into practice, taking into account community pharmacists’ attitudes towards CM, their role in recommending CM, their knowledge of the evidence-base for commonly used CM, further education and training needs, and knowledge of information sources which can be used by pharmacists for CM information. Ethics approval was obtained and a pilot study was conducted to validate the questionnaire. After amendments were made, community pharmacists were invited to complete a 41-item paper-based or web-based questionnaire. Invitations to complete the survey were sent by either social media, email or face-to-face invitation. A response rate of 27% (453/1662) was achieved providing data from 453 community pharmacists. Most respondents were female (63%), aged 24-72 years. Only 42% of pharmacists always asked their customers presenting with a prescription about concomitant CM use. Forty-two percent (42%) of pharmacists personally recommended CM and slightly more than half (58%) had notified manufacturers of CM products of any suspected adverse drug reactions. On average, pharmacists achieved a score of 54% for knowledge on CM-drug interactions and 71% for knowledge of clinically proven benefits. Most pharmacists (75%) obtained their CM product training through self-directed learning. In addition, most pharmacists (66%) supported CM education at the undergraduate level and almost all (94%) recognised the need for additional CM education for pharmacists. Malaysian registered pharmacists do not routinely ask customers about CM use, or recommend CM products, but have a positive attitude towards their use and were interested in learning more about CM.

Management of Leftover Medicine Associated with the Change of Prescription Form through Collaboration between General Practitioners and Community Pharmacists : A Research Survey / 社会薬学

The purpose of this study was to explore issues arising from the promotion of collaboration between general practitioners (GPs) and community pharmacists in the management of leftover medicine. The 2016 Revision of Medical Fee newly added the check boxes in the prescription form in which a physician requests the correspondence of a pharmacy when confirming leftover medicine. In this study, we conducted a questionnaire survey among GPs in three wards of Tokyo in the month of November 2016. Of the 1,256 clinics queried, 283 responded to the survey. Among those GPs responding, 86.6% were concerned about leftover medicine of their patients, while 29.3% used the check boxes. GPs who received an explanation about the change of the prescription form demonstrated a significant increase in the use of the check boxes, compared to GPs who did not (p<0.01). Of the GPs surveyed, 71.0% thought that the check boxes were an advantage in recognizing medicines that the patients did not take. An overall 67.5% of the GPs who used the check boxes revised prescriptions based on the information from pharmacists. The study suggests that by increasing collaboration between GPs and pharmacists, the information from pharmacists could be utilized to revise prescriptions and lead optimization of drug treatment.

Barriers to the provision of asthma services and perceived practice towards asthma management among urban community pharmacists in Selangor, Malaysia

This study aims to assess the perceived practice and barriers towards the provision of asthma management services among urban community pharmacists in Selangor, Malaysia. The study also highlights both pharmacist and patient-related barriers in asthma counseling. One hundred fifty urban community pharmacists in Selangor, Malaysia, were randomly selected and recruited for the present cross sectional baseline study. Previous studies have explored pharmacists' perception on their roles in asthma management in different parts of the world. The data was collected through self-explanatory questionnaires (containing 47 items). The extracted data from the completed questionnaires were analyzed descriptively and inferentially using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 19. Results showed that pharmacists perceived their roles in asthma management along three major dimensions: 'patient self-management', 'medication use' and 'asthma control', mean (±SD) score of the perception towards asthma management was 99.29 ± 4.58 over a maximum possible score of 110 with 90.26%. There were significant differences between the pharmacy education level and perceived practice of asthma management while there were insignificant differences between age, gender, ethnicity, number of practicing year and perceived practice of asthma management among respondents. Most common barriers towards asthma counselling including lack of time, lack of asthma knowledge, lack of counselling space and cost of asthma drugs. Conclusively, urban community pharmacists in Selangor, Malaysia, demonstrate good perceived practice of better management of asthma with multidimensional dimensional role against in disease care.

Evaluation of community pharmacists' involvement in public health activities in Nigeria

The aims of the study were to identify the types, determine the extent of community pharmacists' involvement, and evaluate the factors influencing their participation in public health activities in Nigeria. The study was a cross-sectional survey of randomly selected 130 registered community pharmacies. Pretested questionnaire was the instrument for data collection. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse data. Response rate was 94.9%. The study identified 31 types of public health activities which community pharmacists participated in. Their extent of involvement was highest in patient counseling (4.93 ± 0.25), personal hygiene (4.90 ± 0.37), maintenance of normal blood pressure (4.88 ± 0.32), and techniques for using vagina pessaries (4.85 ± 0.38). Lowest areas of involvement were elimination of smokeless tobacco use (2.27 ± 1.56), use of seat belts when driving (2.03 ± 1.46), and the need to live in a safe neighborhood (1.42 ± 0.53). Inadequate training (96%), lack of pharmacists' time (94.6%), inadequate personnel (92.3%), lack of patients' time (88.5%), lack of profit (85.4%), inadequate space in the pharmacy (82.3%) and inadequate patients' information (69.9%) significantly influenced their participation. The study concluded that community pharmacists would participate more in public health activities if the identified barriers are reduced.

Purchase of prescription and OTC medicines in Slovakia: factors influencing patients' expectations and satisfaction

ABSTRACT Slovakia is a country where the purchase of OTC (over the counter) medicines outside the pharmacy is not allowed by the government. This study aimed at evaluating patients' satisfaction and acceptance of community pharmacists. Customer's behaviour and expectations influencing the purchase of prescription and OTC medicines were analyzed. A structured questionnaire having 15 multiple-choice questions was used to analyze the descriptive parameters. Data collection lasted from January to February 2014. The sample size consisted of 357 high-school educated individuals under 40 years of age. The survey showed that the prescription and OTC medicines were bought equally. The participants reported a 96.0%, 96.3% and 90.2% satisfaction rate with willingness and approach of the community pharmacist, pharmacy services and provision of drug information respectively. As for the OTC medicines, 89.5% people considered the pharmacist an expert: 88.2% purchased medicines with pharmacist's recommendation, 97.8% needed a professional counselling and 97.2% required a pharmacist's guidance. As for the prescription drugs, only 72.1% considered the pharmacist an expert: 96.3% suggested that physician's prescription was significant and 88.3% considered pharmacist's guidance in the process of selection of prescription medicines nonessential. A comprehensible and respectable conversation was highly expected in regards to both the OTC and prescription medicines.

Community Pharmacists’ Perception On Patient Counseling And Continuing Pharmacy Education Program In East Malaysia

Nowadays, community pharmacist plays an important role in medication counseling, patients’ side effects monitoring and drug information delivery. The need of patient counseling has become a vital part of the pharmacy practice and pharmaceutical care. Through Continuing Pharmacy Education (CPE) program, pharmacists can develop into professions in different areas including drug delivery, drug information, technology and patient education. This study was conducted to evaluate the perception of community pharmacists towards patient counseling and continuing education program in Sabah and Sarawak, East Malaysia. A cross-sectional study design utilizing questionnaires was prepared by an extensive literature review. The research was carried out in four major areas in Sarawak; Sibu, Kuching, Bintulu and Miri and in three major areas Sabah; Kota kinabalu, Sepilok, Tawau by convenience sampling method. Descriptive analysis was conducted using SPSS version 18. Perception of community pharmacists towards patients counseling and continuing education program was analysed using scaling method. A cut-off score of 25.8 was used to indicate the perception of community pharmacists. The Pharmacists scored a cut-off point of 25.8 and above were considered to have good perception. A sample of 174 community pharmacists from Sabah and Sarawak were participated in this study. All of the respondents except one had positive perception towards patient counseling and continuing education program. Overall, almost all the community pharmacists had positive perception towards patient counseling and continuing education program in Sabah and Sarawak, East Malaysia. Further research is needed to evaluate perception of community pharmacists in different states of Malaysia and explore more on continuing education program in Malaysia.

Recognition of Community Pharmacists’ Professional and Issues Based on a Survey Targeting Mothers Who are in Child Care / 社会薬学

We implemented a questionnaire survey targeting mothers who are in child care and had participated in consultations regarding drugs and diseases. We examined the future roles of community pharmacists by exploring the mothers’ concerns and, anxieties about child cares and their backgrounds, and their expectations for profession of community pharmacist. Mothers have listed anxiety and concerns of child care about “dermatitis such as rash and atopic eczema”; “food allergies”; “infectious diseases such as measles, chicken pox, and mumps”; and “side effects of vaccination”. In addition, most of them indicated their own concerns and anxiety about “solutions to children’s illnesses.” Despite their anxieties and concerns, however, approximately 60% of the mothers have never consulted with community pharmacists. Among them, approximately a half of them indicated the following three reasons why they have never consulted with pharmacists: “I have nothing to talk about,”, “I do not know what I should talk about,”, and “I was not sure if it was alright to talk about my concerns.”. From these results, we concluded that community pharmacists in the future should improve their communication skills and inform their availability to consult about medicine and disease to local residents.

Analysis of Satisfaction Level and Comprehension Level between Patient and Pharmacist Group on Patient Counseling Standards

BACKGROUNDS: Patient counseling has been forced since June. 19, 2014. Prior to this, there was no study to try to standardize medication counseling to improve quality. PURPOSE: This study was to investigate satisfaction level and comprehension level between the pharmacist group and the patient group about standardized medication counseling sheet. METHODS: Questionnaires to assess standardized patient counseling sheet were posted at online survey software (Qualtrics) to pharmacists who worked at community pharmacy and patients who had visited community pharmacy before. RESULTS: Three hundred thirty five patients and three hundred nineteen pharmacists were responded to the questionnaire (Response rate: 72.9%). More than half of each group were satisfied with standardized medication counseling sheets 'for the general public', 'for the pregnant women and nursing mothers', 'for the chronic patient', and 'for the aged' and patient group were more satisfied than pharmacist group. Similarly, more than half of each group comprehended with the medication counseling sheets 'for the general public', 'for the pregnant women and nursing mothers', 'for the chronic patient', and 'for the aged'. Patient group tended to expect longer patient counseling time per one drug than pharmacist group. Also, the majority of both groups wanted to provide standardized medication counseling sheets constantly and extend for all drugs. CONCLUSION: Both groups were satisfied and comprehended standardized medication counseling sheets, and agreed to expand standardized medication counseling sheets to all drugs. So, it is necessary to build the standardized medication counseling of all drugs.

Knowledge, attitude and practice of community pharmacists of Gujarat towards adverse drug reactions.

Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADR) are one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in India. Community pharmacists are first to report and also in contact with patients, so assessing their knowledge, attitude and practice towards adverse drug reactions is very helpful. Aim: To assess knowledge, attitude and practices of community pharmacists of Gujarat towards adverse drug reactions (ADR). Material and methods: Cross-sectional study was conducted at Gujarat during the period of January 2014 to June 2014 among 150 community pharmacists. We had interviewed them with questionnaire which included 8 questions related to knowledge, 6 questions related to attitude and 6 questions related to practice towards adverse drug reaction (ADR). Results: Community pharmacists had poor knowledge and practice but good attitude towards adverse drug reactions (ADR). Conclusion: Our findings suggested the need for positive, evidence based educational and managerial interventions regularly to improve ADR reporting.

A Questionnaire Survey for Pharmacists Participated in the Community-based Home Medical Care Training Workshop / 社会薬学

After we organized a community-based home medical care (HMC) training workshop composed of presentations by welfare and care workers in addition to patients’ family and targeting community pharmacists in collaboration with a regional pharmacy association, we carried out a questionnaire survey to the pharmacists in attendance to take hold on pharmacist’ opinions for the workshop and attitudes for HMC. The participants had a relatively high level of satisfaction regarding the workshop, rating an average of 7.81 out of 10.0. Among the participants, 77.5% had experience of HMC such as visiting pharmacy services at patient’ home, with the most widely practiced activity being “drug administration guidance for patients at home.” However, activities such as “accompany at the time of rounds” and “participation in conferences” were not widely practiced (less than 50% of the most activity) among the participants. Many participants responded that the key factors of HMC were the cooperation system between different professionals and its environmental arrangement. Overall, positive feedback from participants regarding this workshop was reported, through statements such as “I was able to rediscover the need for cooperation in a diverse team with differing job functions” and “the care of patients and their family was important.” We found many opinions that cooperation with other professionals is important in deepening pharmacists’ involvement in HMC, and that this workshop serves as a bridge to establish greater communication between care workers and pharmacists.

An Opinion Survey on Purchasing Nonprescription Drugs over the Internet in Remote Islands / 医薬品情報学

<b>Objective: </b>The revised Pharmaceutical Affairs Act that came into force in June 2009 prohibits the sale of nonprescription drugs via mail.  However, as a provisional measure, regular users and inhabitants of remote islands who do not have access to pharmacies or drug stores are allowed to purchase nonprescription drugs via mail until the end of May 2013.  This study involves a survey on the purchasing of nonprescription drugs by Internet-illiterate inhabitants of the remote Goto Islands, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan.<br><b>Methods: </b>Our process began with the distribution of questionnaires via mail to inhabitants of the remote Goto Islands, of whom 3,819 were randomly selected.  The responses were sent between January 22 and February 26, 2011.  We analyzed problems presented by 522 inhabitants who were Internet-illiterate.<br><b>Results: </b>The results revealed that 57.3% of the respondents living on large islands—with pharmacies, drug stores, and pharmacists— (e.g., Fukueshima) and 85.3% of respondents living on small islands scattered around large islands—with none of the abovementioned amenities— (e.g., Maeshima) were Internet-illiterate.  Additionally, a majority of the respondents (more than 80%) felt no need to purchase nonprescription drugs over the Internet.  However, considering that a handful of these inhabitants do, or will at some time need to purchase nonprescription drugs over the Internet, we strive to establish an optimal system for supplying medications to these Internet-illiterate inhabitants.<br><b>Conclusion: </b>Community pharmacists need to establish close relationships with the Internet illiterate (particularly those living on small islands) and promote the overall appropriate use of medicinal products.

Atención farmacéutica comunitaria y su impacto en la percepción sobre el profesional farmacéutico en 3 Parroquias del municipio Libertador del estado Mérida / Pharmaceutical community care and its impact on the perception of the pharmacist in three parrishes of the Libertador municipality of Mérida state

El garantizar una farmacoterapia apropiada, segura y efectiva para los pacientes es fundamental para conseguir una atención sanitaria de calidad. El presente trabajo evalúa la influencia de la Atención Comunitaria Farmacéutica como factor directo en el reconocimiento social y científico del Farmacéutico. Se efectuó el estudio mediante un cuestionario dirigido a 250 usuarios, que acudieron a las oficinas de farmacia del Municipio Libertador del Estado Mérida, en un lapso de dos meses. Los resultados indican que casi la mitad de la población estudiada no ha tenido contacto directo con el Farmacéutico y afirma no haberlo podido identificar. Califican como “Malo” los servicios recibidos en las oficinas de farmacia y catalogan al Farmacéutico como un “vendedor de medicamentos”. Se determina la necesidad de un programa de atención farmacéutica en las oficinas de farmacia del Municipio Libertador del Edo. Mérida.

The guarantee of an appropriate, safe and effective Pharmacotherapy for patients is central to achieving quality health care. This paper evaluates the influence of Community Care Pharmacy as a direct factor in social and scientific recognition of the pharmacist. The study was made through a questionnarie of 250 users, who went to the pharmacies of the Libertador Municipality of Mérida State, for two months. The results indicate that almost half of the study population had no direct contact with the pharmacist and claims have not been identified. Services received at the pharmacy are qualified as "Bad" and the pharmacist categorized as a drug dealer. It is determine the need for pharmaceutical care programs in pharmacies of the Libertador Municipality of Mérida State.

Pharmacists’ Knowledge and Opinions Regarding Generic Drugs: A Survey / 医薬品情報学

<b>Objective: </b>In recent years, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has actively promoted the use of generic drugs.  However, implementation of this policy has not progressed smoothly, and generic drug companies suggest that this is because medical staff and patients are not properly informed.  We examined pharmacists’ knowledge and opinions concerning generic drugs.<br><b>Methods: </b>We conducteda questionnaire survey to determine community pharmacists’ opinions and understanding with regard to generic drugs.<br><b>Results: </b>About 90% of pharmacists were apprehensive about the use of generic drugs.  All pharmacists scored low on factual questions, answering an average of 40 % correctly.  The question about the bioequivalence evaluation method in particular was poorly answered.  However, pharmacists’ anxiety about using generic drugs was not related to their knowledge.<br><b>Conclusion: </b>Our findings suggest that community pharmacists lack sufficient knowledge about generic drugs.  It is therefore necessary to educate them on the use of generic drugs.  Also, in order to allay pharmacists’ fears, it is important to improve the comprehensiveness of information concerning generic drugs.

Proffesional training and roles of community pharmacists in Malaysia: views from general medical practitioners

Aim: This pilot study aimed to explore the perceptions of general medical practitioners (GPs) towards the professional training and roles of community pharmacists. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to all private clinics (n=160) run by GPs in a northern state of Malaysia. The instrument contained questions to evaluate the practitioners’ level of agreement using a 5-point Likerttype scale. Results: Of 160 GPs, 80 returned the questionnaire (response rate 50%). The respondents agreed that: GPs should consider the community pharmacists’ recommendations whenever there is/are any problem(s) with the prescriptions given by them (46.3%); community pharmacists are the best healthcare professionals to educate patients about safe and appropriate use of medications (52.5%); the pharmacy profession had undergone a major metamorphosis from a product-oriented profession to a more patient-centred and outcome-oriented one (61.3%); if dispensing separation is implemented, they will work closely with the community pharmacists in monitoring patients’ pharmacotherapeutic outcomes (77.5%). Conclusion: The current findings suggest that GPs would support an extension of the role of the community pharmacists in number of activities of patient care activities such as medication counselling. Thus, suggesting potential collaborative care between GPs and community pharmacists towards patient care and the needs to develop and incorporate topics on inter-professional relationship in the current medical and pharmaceutical education curriculums.

Training and Examination on the Basic Technical Skills for Community Pharmacists / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE: To explore some effective training methods on the basic technical skills for community pharmacists. METHODS: The training content and method of technical skills for community pharmacists were arranged based on the basic condition of community pharmacists. The outcome of the training and examination of technical skills were obtained through skill examination of questionnaire survey. RESULTS: The majority of community pharmacists had a good mastering of the basic skills such as the standardized drug dispensing,drug consultation,collecting and reporting of adverse drug reactions. 95% of the pharmacists considered that this kind training was helpful for their practical work. CONCLUSION: The key to improve community pharmaceutical professional staff’s knowledge and service level is to establish regular training and examination on basic technical skills.