Pharmaceutical care
Encyclopedia
Pharmaceutical care is the responsible provision of drug therapy for the purpose of achieving definite outcomes that improve a patient
's quality of life . These outcomes are (i) cure of a disease
; (ii) elimination or reduction of a patient's symptomatology;(iii) arresting or slowing of a disease process; or (iv) preventing a disease or symptomatology.
This process requires a clinical pharmacist to review a patient's medication with reference to the doctor's diagnoses, laboratory tests and patient's information. The clinical pharmacist must therefore work very closely with the doctor and patient in order to gain a correct understanding of the relevance and impact of the various medications on the patient's pathology.
The pharmaceutical care process was originally conceived to be undertaken in a community pharmacy by community pharmacists. In 1996 the Pharmaceutical Society of NZ began a programme to implement the process throughout New Zealand. While some 500 pharmacists undertook an expensive training, it was found that the basic skill level of most pharmacists was not sufficient to enable them to undertake an in-depth review of the patients' medication [Citation Required]. Pharmacists are now required to complete a postgraduate diploma in clinical pharmacy
to enable them to practice as a Clinical Pharmacist before being considered competent to work at this level.
Patient
A patient is any recipient of healthcare services. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, advanced practice registered nurse, veterinarian, or other health care provider....
's quality of life . These outcomes are (i) cure of a disease
Disease
A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...
; (ii) elimination or reduction of a patient's symptomatology;(iii) arresting or slowing of a disease process; or (iv) preventing a disease or symptomatology.
This process requires a clinical pharmacist to review a patient's medication with reference to the doctor's diagnoses, laboratory tests and patient's information. The clinical pharmacist must therefore work very closely with the doctor and patient in order to gain a correct understanding of the relevance and impact of the various medications on the patient's pathology.
The pharmaceutical care process was originally conceived to be undertaken in a community pharmacy by community pharmacists. In 1996 the Pharmaceutical Society of NZ began a programme to implement the process throughout New Zealand. While some 500 pharmacists undertook an expensive training, it was found that the basic skill level of most pharmacists was not sufficient to enable them to undertake an in-depth review of the patients' medication [Citation Required]. Pharmacists are now required to complete a postgraduate diploma in clinical pharmacy
Clinical pharmacy
Clinical pharmacy is the branch of Pharmacy where pharmacists provide patient care that optimizes the use of medication and promotes health, wellness, and disease prevention. Clinical pharmacists care for patients in all health care settings but the clinical pharmacy movement initially began inside...
to enable them to practice as a Clinical Pharmacist before being considered competent to work at this level.
See also
- ATC codes Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System
- Classification of Pharmaco-Therapeutic ReferralsClassification of Pharmaco-Therapeutic ReferralsThe Classification of Pharmaco-Therapeutic Referrals is a taxonomy focused to define and group together situations requiring a referral from pharmacists to physicians regarding the pharmacotherapy used by the patients. It has been published in 2008...
- History of pharmacyHistory of pharmacyThe history of pharmacy as an independent science is relatively young. The origins of historiography pharmaceutical back to the first third of the nineteenth century which is when the first historiographies that while not touching all aspects of pharmaceutical history is the starting point for the...
- ICD-10ICD-10The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision is a medical classification list for the coding of diseases, signs and symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances, and external causes of injury or diseases, as maintained by the...
International Classification of Diseases - ICPC-2 PLUSICPC-2 PLUSICPC-2 PLUS is an extended terminology classified to ICPC-2 International Classification of Primary Care, which aids data entry, retrieval and analysis. ICPC-2 PLUS takes into account the frequency distribution of problems seen in primary health care...
- International Classification of Primary CareInternational Classification of Primary CareThe International Classification of Primary Care is a classification method for primary care encounters. It allows for the classification of the patient’s reason for encounter , the problems/diagnosis managed, primary or general health care interventions, and the ordering of the data of the...
ICPC-2 - Pharmacists
- PharmacotherapyPharmacotherapyPharmacotherapy is the treatment of disease through the administration of drugs. As such, it is considered part of the larger category of therapy....
- Referral (medicine)Referral (medicine)In medicine, referral is the transfer of care for a patient from one clinician to another.Tertiary care is usually done by referral from primary or secondary medical care personnel....
- Drug Therapy ProblemsDrug therapy problemsDrug Therapy Problems is a categorization of drug problems, in the field of Pharmaceutical care. However it can also be used as a definition of the specific manners in which drug therapy can cause problems...