Most people on the outside of the health care profession are not familiar with this new role of the pharmacist. The general public has created a stereotypical pharmacist's picture as being a person who stands behind a counter, dispenses medicine with some instructions to the respective consumer. Pharmacy practice has changed substantially in recent years. Today’s pharmacists have unique training and expertise in the appropriate use of medications and provide a wide array of patient care services in many different practice settings. As doctors are busy with the diagnosis and treatment of patients, the pharmacist can assist them by selecting the most appropriate drug for a patient. Interventions by the pharmacists have always been considered as a valuable input by the health care community in the patient care process by reducing the medication errors, rationalizing the therapy and reducing the cost of therapy.
Keywords:Patient Care; Patient Compliance; Patient Counseling; Extemporaneous Prescription Compounding; Framework for Medication Safety; Patient Behavior; Patient Education; Patient-Provider Relationship; Patient Relationship Management; Patient Problem Solving and Preventive Care; Pharmacovigilance; Patient Safety; Pharmaco-Economics; Long-term Care; Community Liaison Pharmacists in Home Care; Pharmacists in Ambulatory Care; Critical Care Pharmacists; Rational Use of Drugs; Surgical Dressing; Medication Risk Management; Medication History Taking and Reconciliation; Drug Related Problems; Medication Reconciliation; Palliative and Hospice Care
2. IntroductionThe goal of high quality, cost-effective and accessible health care for patients is achieved through team-based patient-centered care. Pharmacists are essential members of the health care team. The profession of pharmacy is continuing its evolution from a principal focus on medication product distribution to expanded clinically-oriented patient care services. As a result of this professional evolution, the importance of, and need for, a consistent process of care in the delivery of patient care services has been increasingly recognized by the profession at large. Pharmacists in hospital, community care, dispensing and allied healthcare arena are highly appreciated for their knowledge-based contribution and dedication towards profession. The purpose of the book is to guide the patient care pharmacists in their day to day activities. Along with guidelines, the book encloses ideas about patient dealing, patient rights, ethical decision making, professionalism. At every chapter, the role of pharmacists in that chapter specific issues are detailed explicitly so that a professional pharmacist or a student can figure out his or her do’s and not to do’s in that specific situations. Moreover, further reading references are listed to follow guidelines further. So, the book is an archive of potential references too. Among so many books on clinical pharmacy, hospital and community care pharmacy the role of pharmacists in patient care is rarely highlighted with a very little information. The sector is emerging in both developed and under-developed countries. In most of the books, either doctors’ or nurses’ roles are highlighted. The proposed book (Figure 1) highlights pharmacists’ roles and responsibilities to the most, separated from those of doctors and nurses, with most recent information obtained from recently published articles of several journals, books, newsletters, magazines etc. The book’s chapter-based summary is added in (Table 1) and comparison with similar other available books given in (Table 2).
3. Pharmacist’s Role in Patient CareThe development and approval of the Pharmacists’ Patient Care Process by the Joint Commission of Pharmacy Practitioners and incorporation of the Process into the 2016 Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education Standards has the potential to lead to important changes in the practice of pharmacy, and to the enhanced acknowledgment, acceptance, and reimbursement for pharmacy and pharmacist services [1]. Nowadays, pharmacists also ensure the rational and cost-effective use of medicines, promote healthy living, and improve clinical outcomes by actively engaging in direct patient care and collaborating with many healthcare disciplines. With this expanding scope of practice, pharmacists are being recognized as key components in providing individualized patient care as part of interprofessional healthcare teams [2]. Pharmacists help manage complex patients because they look at medications with a different eye than a doctor. One important practice they perform is a “comprehensive medication review” where patients bring in medications, vitamins, supplements, and OTC drugs [3]. Nowadays, the shortage of health personnel, and in particular pharmacists, is a challenging issue that the health systems have to face. The use of a new technology such as tele pharmacy can represent a possible option to solve these problems [4]. Up to 50% of ADE and ADE-related hospitalizations are judged to be preventable by avoiding inappropriate prescribing. Use of a simple interdisciplinary medication review has been shown to lead to the reduction of inappropriate prescribing and costs, but there was no effect on clinically relevant patient outcomes, possibly due to a lack of power and insufficient observation time [5]. Pharmacists see their patients somewhere between 1.5 and 10 times more frequently than they see primary care physicians [6]. Clinical pharmacists can help patients manage their medicines and reduce their anxiety about taking multiple medicines [7]. Pharmacists also get benefit because there is an increased recognition and respect for the value of the advice and service that they provide [8]. There is a need to increase access to primary care services, control costs, and improve outcomes in health care for patients especially in the management of chronic conditions which puts a strain on health care systems worldwide [9]. Pharmacists’ better access to the patients and their acceptability improve patient care by enabling pharmacists to play an even greater role in the provision of safe and effective unscheduled care, treating common clinical conditions and responding to emergency requests for medicines [10]. Therefore, students who are interested in patient care practice as their future career, should develop a standardized approach to assessing, prioritizing, and resolving drug-related problems such as untreated conditions, appropriate drug selection, duplication of therapy, use of drugs without a condition or indication, over- or under-dosing, adverse effects or toxicity, allergic reactions, drug interactions, adherence, availability and access, cost, and outcomes expectations. Students also should be looking for the beneficial outcomes of drug therapy and pharmacy services with respect to patient understanding, disease and disorder prevention, and medication-associated efficacy and safety.
4. Key Features of the Book→ The book solely focuses on job responsibilities of patient care pharmacists, separated from those of doctors and nurses, with the most recent information. → Various aspects of pharmacist-led patient care services are incorporated in a single book. → Career-focused discussions in every chapter with structured guidelines provided for the pharmacists. → Content is mostly based on recent pharmacists’ activities in the healthcare arena of developed countries. → Chapter outline, abbreviations, synopsis, learning outcomes, cases, key terms and further references are added like a textbook. → Possible errors during the patient dealing and measures to be taken in all aspects are thoroughly discussed. → The future prospect of patient care pharmacists in different areas of health care elaborately discussed. → Discusses patient relationship management with a caring and compassionate touch which is a very demanding approach to many high-profile healthcare settings. → Along with professionals, undergraduate students can utilize this book as a reference for their courses like hospital and community pharmacy and pharmaceutics. → Scholars from countries around the world are giving their recommendation about the book.
6. Author ProfileAuthor (Figure 2) completed B.Pharm (2004) and M.Pharm (2006) from Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka. He has completed his MBA (2007) from East West University. He was in faculty of Pharmacy, World University of Bangladesh as an Assistant Professor. Along with 8 years of teaching experience, he also worked for reputed pharmaceutical companies in strategic management for 5 years. He authored 11 books (Table 3) and many articles on alternative medicines, patient care, marine drug sources and other recent issues of healthcare in several journals (Table 4) and newspapers (Table 5). He is now acting secretary and treasurer in Dr. M. Nasirullah Memorial Trust.
7. ConclusionUniversal-Publishers seeks authors who are experts in their field, and whose work addresses a specialized audience. Our mission is to expose new ideas and important scholarship. In exchange for distribution rights, we offer major distribution, fair compensation, multiple media editions, and personal attention. The esteem book was under editing and improvisation from the beginning of year 2019, after copyright agreement signing. The book is eligible to provide learning to both Pharmacy apprentices (mainstream and diploma pharmacists) for their regular courses related to Hospital and Community Pharmacy, Pharmacy Compounding and Dispensing as well as to the allied health professionals who are close to patients in their day-to-day activities. Major limitation of the book lies with the continuous improvement in different aspect of healthcare services around the world that cannot be detailed in a single frame. However, further reading references are given so that a reader can have an idea of sources that can benefit their future learnings. Also, a comparison table is added in Annexure 26 of the said book (Table 2 of the article), showing a few points that makes the book superior to similar other available books, which is further mentioned that those books obviously have their unique superiority over this book, The Role of the Pharmacist in Patient Care (Achieving High Quality, Cost-Effective and Accessible Healthcare Through a Team-Based, Patient-Centered Approach) in terms of their focus on respective subject matter(s). The book solely claims its superiority in terms of focus in detailing Pharmacists’ major roles and responsibilities in patient care.
8. AcknowledgementI am grateful to the whole team of Universal Publishers, including Dr. Jeff Young (publisher and CEO) who helped & guided with their team members for all their support to the work in this project and make this book project a success. I would like to pay thanks to Dr. Arinze Nkemdirim Okere, Associate Professor of Pharmacy, Clinical and Administrative Sciences, Florida A&M University, USA and Dr. Mamun Rashid of Appalachian College of Pharmacy Oakwood, Virginia, USA for their precious time to review my manuscript and continued inspiration.
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Mohi uddin AK. The Role of the Pharmacist in Patient Care (Book Review). Annals of Clinical and Medical Case Reports 2021