PHA-Exchange> UN HEALTH AGENCY PUBLISHES HANDBOOK TO ENHANCE PHARMACISTS' ROLE IN PATIENT CARE

[claudio at hcmc.netnam.vn]

 from Vern Weitzel <vern at coombs.anu.edu.au> -----
 UN HEALTH AGENCY PUBLISHES HANDBOOK TO ENHANCE PHARMACISTS’ ROLE IN PATIENT 
CARE
New York, Nov 24 2006  2:00PM
With the pharmacist’s role evolving from that of a maker and supplier 
towards that of provider of 
services and information and ultimately of patient care, the United Nations 
health agency is 
co-sponsoring a 
<"http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/new/2006/nw05/en/index.html">handbook to 
ensure that a patient’s drug therapy is the most effective available, the 
safest possible and 
properly adhered to.

“Pharmacists have an important role to play in health care, which is much 
more than selling 
medicines,” UN World Health Organization (WHO) Director of Medicines Policy 
and Standards Hans V. 
Hogerzeil said of the handbook, Developing pharmacy practice - A focus on 
patient care, published by 
his agency and the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP).

An ever-growing and complex range of medicines and poor adherence to 
prescribed medicines have 
forced the evolution of the pharmacist’s role into a more patient-centred 
approach, known as 
pharmaceutical care, WHO notes. Adherence to long-term therapy for chronic 
conditions in developed 
countries averages 50 per cent, with even lower rates for developing countries.


“By taking direct responsibility for individual patient’s medicine-related 
needs, pharmacists can 
make a unique contribution to the outcome of drug therapy and to their 
patients’ quality of life,” 
the handbook says in its introduction.


“The practice of pharmaceutical care is new, in contrast to what pharmacists 
have been doing for 
years. Because pharmacists often fail to assume responsibility for this care, 
they may not 
adequately document, monitor and review the care given. Accepting such 
responsibility is essential 
to the practice of pharmaceutical care,” it adds.


The number of medicines on the market has increased dramatically over the last 
few decades, bringing 
some real innovations but also considerable challenges in controlling the 
quality and rational use 
of medicines, the handbook notes.


To reach as wide an audience as possible, it will be available both in 
electronic form and print. 
The aim throughout is to make it interactive and provide suitable model 
responses, so that it can 
also be used for self-assessment. It contains a wide variety of illustrative 
case studies in order 
to meet the needs of different users.
 

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