Professional pharmacy

The interpretation of prescription medication orders is one of the most important requirements of professional pharmacy practice. According to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy s (NABP s) Model State Pharmacy Act,... 

Each state has a professional pharmacy organization, some of which are affiliated with the American Pharmaceutical Association, Similarly, state organizations of hospital pharmacists exist in affiliation with the ASHP, Likewise, local or county associations exist in most instances. Each national association publishes a journal as do most state organizations, The FederalRegister reports proposed and enacted federal regulatory occurrences several times a week. Each stale has a similar publication to report its legislation and regulatory developments, e.g The Pennsylvania Bulletin. 

Quality is an essential component of competent, professional pharmacy practice. Increasing quality can have many beneficial effects on any practice, such as minimizing rework and increasing productivity. Many quality improvement changes are simple and can be implemented quickly but may have a large impact on the quality of patient care. 

Professional pharmacy and medical organizations [e.g., the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), the National Community Pharmcists Association (NCPA), and the American Medical Association (AMA)] and health care organizations [e.g., the American Diabetes Association (ADA) or the American Heart Association (AHA)] also provide valuable information about many health conditions and value-added services. This information is important not only in the development of a service but also in justifying the need for a service with consumers and administrators. These organizations also provide treatment guidelines and additional resources that can be used when developing an operations plan for a service (see Chapter 25). 

Sue has been on staff at Professional Pharmacy for 6 months. She is beginning to feel comfortable with the employees, customers, and flow of the business. The immunization program that she helped institute while a student has continued to grow, now offering vaccinations year round for influenza, diphtheria, and tetanus, in addition to miscellaneous travel and childhood vaccinations. 

Sue began to realize that a large portion of Professional Pharmacy s patient population was diabetic. As she learned more by participating in diabetes-related continuing-education programs, Sue started to see opportunities for enhanced patient services that could... 

Sue is determined to pursue her idea of creating a compounding specialty service. After her discussions with Mr. Burke confirmed his lack of interest, she realized that she has two options Find another pharmacy that would be interested in pursuing this specialty service or start her own business. Sue decides that despite how well things have been for her at Professional Pharmacy, the time is right to start her own business. 

It has been 4 years since Sue entered into ajunior partnership with Mr. Burke, and at the end of next year, she will be majority owner of Professional Pharmacy. While the time has just flown by, Sue marvels at all she has learned about pharmacy practice from both the business and professional sides. Sue came to this realization shordy after her first scheduled meeting with this year s community pharmacy resident, Cindy Ryan. 

Organizations come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Many are organized according to specialty, others by matter of convenience. The manner in which organizations are put together clearly affects how they function. There are several theories on which companies are organized, and this chapter reviews some of these theories and focuses on applications of them in professional pharmacy practice. 

With Medicare s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, also known as Medicare Part A, workers make required contributions to the fund while fhey are employed. Upon retirement, workers receive health care benefits. By law, employers and their employees are required to pay equal portions of a payroll tax, which totals 2.9% of earned income.In 1997, almost 90% of the trust fund s income was from payroll taxes. The remaining income was generated from fhe inferesf earned from the trust fund. A beneficiary s Medicare Parf A insurance is limifed to only those hospitals accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation for Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). The JCAHO accreditation standards include explicit and extensive professional pharmacy acfivifies, indirectly supporting professional trends for clinical pracfice (see Chapfer 18). 

With the change in professional pharmacy practice to the pharmaceutical care model, pharmacists and pharmacy organizations realized the importance of acquiring evidence of the impacts these services have on patient care. The American Society of Consultant Pharmacists Research and Education Fmmdation began a research program, the Fleetwood Project, to demonstrate the impacts of consultant pharmacy services on patient outcomes and health care costs. The Fleetwood Project is an initiative that arose from within the profession to support change in professional practice in contrast to the practice responding to the next external mandate. 

The ACPE has established accreditation standards for organizations fhaf approve the content and conduct of pharmacy education programs thaf meef ACPE criteria. The majority of ACPE-approved providers are professional pharmacy organizations, colleges of pharmacy, and pharmaceutical companies. Each program is reviewed every 6 years by the ACPE. Boards of pharmacy in 48 sfafes accepf CE credif from ACPE provider organizations to meet their CE requirements for license renewal. ... 

The PTCB exam is used and endorsed by many national pharmacy chains, many independent community and hospital pharmacies, and the U.S. military. Employers use the exam as a condition of employment as a requirement to perform selecfed functions, to justify career or salary advancement, and so forth. To create a minimum standard for pharmacy technician capabilities, a growing number of state boards of pharmacy require technicians to be PTCB cerhfied. In addition, many state boards of pharmacy have developed processes for technicians to register with the state. This process allows pharmacy boards to identify individuals currently employed as technicians in their states. Most professional pharmacy organizations and state boards of pharmacy oppose licensure of pharmacy technicians. As the roles of pharmacy technicians continue to evolve and the public becomes more aware of their contributions, the profession will need to provide the required training and competencies to assure the public that the technicians are able to fulfill their vital roles in pharmacy. 

This chapter explores the answers to these and other questions regarding associations, in particular professional pharmacy associations. The purpose of this chapter is twofold. First, it imparts to students of pharmacy the value of membership and active involvement in professional associations. Second, it provides an understanding of the importance of professional associations to the advancement of pharmacy practice in the U.S. At the conclusion of the chapter, students should be able to ... 

Step 4. Consider what you would lose if you were not involved. Membership in a professional pharmacy association can be especially rewarding to those who take an active role in the organization and their profession. All members, however, benefit from the services offered by their professional organization. 

The following is a list of features of membership in a pharmacy association. The list is not meant to be all-inclusive, but aims rather to help students appreciate what benefits can be derived from membership and active involvement in a professional pharmacy association ... 

Many of the national professional pharmacy associahons foster the development of student chapters at colleges of pharmacy. Somehmes, these are combined with state affiliate chapters of the nahonal associahon. Most school-based associahon chapters offer students the same privileges as those for achve professional members, including access to publicahons, Web site resources, and informahon for career development and postgraduate pursuits. 

Neurology pharmacists have formal networking and educational opportunities at professional pharmacy orga-... 

The Pharmacy Development Program (PDP) provides federal government support for programs of quality accreditation of pharmacies, for the provision of medicine information for consumers, and for research programs to identify cost effective professional pharmacy initiatives that can demonstrate net benefits for the Australian health system. 

With this federal government support, professional pharmacy bodies have established practice standards, measurable performance indicators, and pharmacy accreditation programs. The standards address health promotion, drug dispensing, dose administration aids, patient counseling, compounding, medication reviews, comprehensive pharmaceutical care, drug information services, liaison pharmacy, and pharmacy services in residential care facilities. 

It has been my experience that, given the opportunity for one-on-one, collaborative practice with physicians and other health professionals, pharmacy practitioners who have been educated and trained to perform at the level of pharmacotherapeutics specialists almost invariably have convinced the former that the importance of their work will not be lessened, but enhanced, by the increased safety and dispatch with which individualized problems of drug therapy could be managed in collaboration with clinical pharmacy practitioners. 

Health-care professionals, pharmacies, and patients will no longer be required to enroll in the rosiglitazone REMS program to be able to prescribe, dispense, or receive rosiglitazone medicines. 

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