Mediterranean Journal Of Pharmacy And Pharmaceutical Sciences

Novel clinical pharmacy practice: extended role and improved competencies

Authors Details :
Abdulbaset A. Elfituri,
Fathi M. Sherif

573 Views Editorial

In health care delivery systems, if you are not part of the solution, then you must be part of the problem. Over the last few decades, clinical pharmacy encourages pharmacists and pharmacy support staff to move their focus from product-oriented role towards new direct engagement with patients, to make the most of the benefits that patients obtain from the medicine they take, or the problems they encounter with their medicines use. In the USA, pharmacists’ participation in physicians ward rounds was shown to reduce adverse drug events by 78% and 66% in general medical and intensive care settings [1. 2]. A study covering 1 029 US hospitals indicated that centrally based and patient-specific clinical pharmacy services are associated with reduced mortality rates [3]. The services involved were medicine information, clinical research performed by pharmacists, active pharmacist participation in resuscitation teams and pharmacists undertaking admission medication histories. New pharmacists’ roles in healthcare systems around the globe have moved and developed significantly over the past few years, particularly with expansion of the scope of practice which allows pharmacists to focus on the clinical aspects of direct patient care [4, 5]. Pharmacists are drug therapy experts of health care team. Therefore, pharmacists, today, are the arbiters of effective and safe use of medicines. Medication therapy management is one of the major areas in which physicians more and more rely on pharmacists to benefit their patients.