Should Pharmacists Provide Direct Patient Health Care?

Long before health reform topped medical and political news headlines, patients and doctors have had the practice of shyly turning to pharmacists for health advice beyond filling prescriptions. Before making a call or visit to their primary care physician's office, it is not unusual to see customers in drug stores turning to their pharmacists' advice, "How can I get rid of this terrible cough?" or "What can I do for this headache?"

Now, it appears the patient-doctor-pharmacist team is coming out of these shadows and into the health care light. Over 290 studies were included in a review published in the October 2010 Medical Care publication by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. It showed the three-way combined effort creates positive results on safety and therapeutics in direct patient care.

The report mirrors the new trend in additional policies and services being offered at supermarkets and corner drug stores across America. Not only are basic health services sharing building space inside some retail pharmacies nationwide, like Minute Clinic ® and Take Care Clinic ®, but the retail pharmacists are providing full-service direct patient care. Some of these services include vaccinations for adults and children, health screenings and medication management services, which are traditionally tasks of primary care physicians.

Retail stores have long known their pharmacies are not only one of the most enduring departments in their business, but also the most profitable, according comments from Catherine Polley at the Food Marketing Institute vice president of health care in the October 2010 article for Pharmacy Times by Barbara Sax. Supermarket pharmacists are in a great position to influence patient health, because they are in the middle of the place patients do their weekly shopping. Polley says this creates an opportunity for pharmacists to show patients the connections between medicine, nutrition and food choices like no other health professional can.

Likewise in hospital environments, there is a trend for critical care units, emergency rooms and other specialty care departments to employ their own pharmacists separate from main hospital pharmacy departments. The purpose is to enhance patient service with a more direct teaming of pharmacists and doctors in those fast-paced decisions often required in an urgent care situation.

The Bottom Line

The patient-pharmacist-doctor teams appear to be a natural and much needed revolution in health care. Pharmacists' official involvement in direct patient care could be a move toward better patient understanding and self-advocacy in their personal health.

Sources

Pharmacy, Food Marketing Institute
When Pharmacists Join the Health Team, NewsWise
Surgery and Emergency Pharmacy Pavillion, UCDavis
Campus Pharmacy Offers Convenient Service, Emory College
Supermarkets Offering Patient Accessible Pharmacy Services, Pharmacy Times
Retailers as Vital Change Agents in Health Care, Section III, Page 6, Revitalizing Critical Role in Revolutionizing Health Care and Revitalizing the Economy, Food Marketing Institute