Pharmacies challenging

What is less clear is how, or whether, the roles of pharmacists will grow or advance. Since no significant increase in the number of practicing pharmacists can be foreseen in the immediate future to take on this increasing workload, while hopefully continuing to expand services and the delivery of pharmaceutical care, pharmacy clearly faces a major challenge. More use of better trained, certified, or even licensed technicians is one approach. More automation and computerization is another. A rapid growth in the expected use of electronic prescriptions may also allow further efficiencies—even the prospect of a paperless automated process. 

Making projections about the future adequacy of pharmacy s workforce is made even more challenging because it is highly dependent on the future roles of pharmacists and public expectations. It is clear that a pharmacist shortage currently exists in many regions of... 

Phillips, A. 2001. The challenge of gene therapy and DNA delivery. Journal of Pharmacy and pharmacology. 53(9), 1169-1174. 

The Challenges of Pharmacogenomics for Pharmacy Education, Practice, and Regulation, 207... 

Pahents need informahon to use drugs properly, not only adequate direchons for use, but also informahon on the risks and benefits. Pharmacists are key players in the pahent educahon process. In an article in American Pharmacy in January of 1992, former FDA Commissioner, Dr. David Kessler challenged pharmacists to renew their commitment to... 

Pharmaeopeial harmonization is challenging. Differences exist because of the different histories of the pharmacopoeias. There are many factors. The most obvious are content, language, legalities, speed, and the audiences for the standards. United States Pharmacopeia applies also to the practice of pharmacy, both in a com-... 

The pharmaceutical industry presents many new challenges to such a person which include the interface with pharmacy and pharmacology, toxicological research, human volunteer studies, clinical trials and post-marketing surveillance to name just a few. Product safety is a factor which impacts on all of those endeavours and the pharmaceutical physician will be expected to work and provide advice within that framework. It will be clear to anyone that evidence of lack of safety in a medical product is not good news for the company concerned and that some level of protective action will often be required which in extreme circumstances may involve product withdrawal. It is, therefore, essential that the pharmaceutical physician should be absolutely clear what constitutes lack of safety in relation to the intended use of the product. 

Wolfgang AP. 1989. Challenging students to consider pharmacy s professional status. Am J Pharm Ed 53 177. 

The director of pharmacy is responsible for the creation of policies and procedures to manage expenditures. These include, but are not limited to, group purchasing, utilization review protocols, and cost-effective clinical pharmacy services (Goodwin, 1995). In their efforts to manage expenditures, hospital pharmacy directors are faced with a set of unique challenges unlike those seen in community pharmacy. While all... 

Dr. Quint has been advised that among her many new job responsibilities, she will need to develop a master budget, or profit plan, for Home TPN Care. It was obvious to her that she would need to review the materials she studied in her pharmacy management course about budgeting before she could tackle this important challenge. 

The fourth major characteristic of services is perishability, which refers to the inability to store services. Since providers and patients must be present, the pharmacy needs to be able to provide a service when demanded by the client. This situation can create problems because demand often fluctuates for pharmacy services. One approach that has been used to better match demand and supply of pharmacy services is an appointment system. That is, patients make appointments with pharmacists for future services, similar to scheduling a clinic visit with a physician. Although services present marketing challenges, most can be managed in some way. 

Once a marketing plan has been created, the next challenge is to put the plan into action. The goods and services described in the plan must fit into the pharmacy practice, which is an ongoing combination of people, equipment, and information. Putting a new service into practice means that the pharmacy will be disrupted in some way. Ideally, such disruption will be limited in time and done in a manner that minimizes problems for staff and customers. A couple of tools that can support a coordinated practice change are a service blueprint and an action plan. 

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