As the large number of literatures and compartive studies stating that Pharmacists intervention in patient counseling had improved the patient care and QoL. But counseling the patient is a very important aspect in spectrum of healthcare and without knowing the subjects like psychology in course of the pharmacy curricula, how extend it can be helpful. Pharmacy can be better in Medication counseling that professional counsellors. Does the psychology an important subject to counsel the patient and please share your comments
Yes, professionals need to have a lot of background knowledge on psychology before they can counsel patients. Knowing why people do what they do!
Pharmacist are right person for counseling on drug related matters...not psychology...they can counsel on interactions,allergies,drug abuse etc
I agree that in order to effectively counsel patients one needs to address emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and other social issues; however, unless you address issues relevant to drug therapy you will not impact patient outcomes. Pharmacists have a unique skill set and knowledge base to address many issues which negatively impact medication adherence. Management/minimization of adverse drug effects, identification of inappropriate therapies, selection of more cost effective alternatives, and dose optimization are all common interventions provided by pharmacists to name a few. Also, let us not forget that many patients see their pharmacist more often than other clinicians providing opportunity for relationship building and rapid identification of issues contribution to poor medication adherence. Pharmacists absolutely have the training and qualifications to counsel patients in a meaningful way. There are substantial data that have established the efficacy of pharmacists in improving patient outcomes. A good example is the Asheville Project: http://www.ncpharmacists.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=41
Cheers
Amateurism. Not competent. Humility. I did not think my response was an attack on any profession and if so I apologize if you perceived it to be inflammatory. One of the issues necessary for the advance of patient care is to work as a team to improve patient outcomes. The goal of each profession is protecting the patient. Each profession has a unique skill set and something to contribute. Perhaps there is a difference in what counseling is or what issues are addressed during patient counseling between professions. Pharmacists are trained to identify medication related problems that have a negative impact on patient adherence/outcomes. These problems are identified during medication counseling. The pharmacy profession does not get reimbursed for counseling patients on medication use. It is part of a pharmacist's duty to counsel patients on medications and they are adequately trained to perform this responsibility just as it is an anesthesiologist's duty to provide the patient with risks of anesthesia prior to a procedure. Do you propose pharmacists dispense medications without counseling patients on their use? This action would be unethical and in fact a source of malpractice. See The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (http://www.uspharmacist.com/content/d/featured_articles/c/10126/) which requires US pharmacists to counsel patients when dispensing medications.
The management of toxicities, therapy, etc.. is necessary to improve patient medication adherence. If any medication related problem is present, it should be corrected. Very often while counseling patients these issues are identified as a source of medication non-adherence. I have presented facts supporting pharmacist medication counseling backed by legislation and clinical studies. Pharmacists are required to provide patients with medication counseling and the methods they use have been shown to be effective in improving patient outcomes. No anecdote, speculation, or opinion. I have not stated that clinical psychologists can not or should not counsel patients and address issues which a pharmacist or any other professional may not be able to address. In fact, I welcome this to improve patient outcomes. Would there be enough clinical psychologists available to counsel patients on their medications? Total prescription volume in the US in 2010 was 3.99 billion. Would it be more appropriate to identify "at risk" patients or patients where no medication related problems are identified and refer them?
We are struggling over here because pharmacists can differ based on location, training, scope of their respective jobs, personal characteristics etc. I think if you see this link you will find extremely relevant information-
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=pharmacists+counseling&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C15
We work with HIV vertical transmission prevention and our pharmacist who delivers the ARV to the patients play an important role in our adherence improvement program and helps me and aour nurse conseling about the treatment. Also, we apply and monitorate HCV treatment and again the pharmacist (another one) have done a great work, following the patients with regular appointments.
As long as they do have a training course in (Therapeutic) Patient Education, they can be ONE OF THE professionals! Please not THE RIGHT PERSON! See what is on in France.
If they have the background knowledge of pathophysiology, then they are also right persons for patient counceling. When compared to Doctors, they may spend enough time with patient, so that they can have the patient history, and analyse the suitation
I am part of residence multidisciplinary transplant and organ procurement, where we have pharmacists, nurses, psychologists and physiotherapists working together and learning from each other. As the chronic use of immunosuppressive brings numerous co-morbidities, not to mention the adverse drug reactions which makes it harder to adherence. The professionals involved analyzing the cases each showing their focus and this causes a learn from each other, which means that sometimes a professional, evidence-based, meets a patient alone. I believe this to be the best alternative, which is advocated by the institutes for accreditation.
Today's pharmacists are trained to consider many factors that influence proper drug use. They are the drug experts by far. A lot of evidence shows that pharmacists as counselors, if given the time, have a major impact on reduction of drug-related problems. I suppose that professional counselors might add some improvements, but the pharmacist would still need to play a major role with patients, family members, or other caregivers. I doubt that any insurer in the USA would be willing to add another health care professional requesting payment for services that are traditionally provided by pharmacists. Some US pharmacists are board certified as psychiatric experts and work in concert with behavioral therapy providers. They would also have a high level of expertise with special needs counseling.
Chitra makes a good point. My institution requires a rigorous pathophysiology core course. In addition, patient assessment skills are part of the curriculum. The socioeconomic status of patients is recognized as an important factor affecting proper medication use, including basic access to medication which can be a significant issue in the US health care delivery environment. A multicultural society like ours may also present language barriers that affect pharmacist-patient communication, but translation services are required for pharmacy licensure in many states, and prescription labels can also be printed in languages other than English.
I am confident to say that Pharmacy professionals are one of the best options for patient counseling and of course they are having a demonstrated importance in at least counseling of HIV patients in my setup. I believe in the importance of psychology course for patient counseling service and it is part of all undergraduate pharmacy curriculum I am aware so far. The course 'communication skills for pharmacists' which is made to be part of the current undergraduate pharmacy curriculum in Ethiopia is much more helpful to enable pharmacists provide effective communication skills.
Pharmacist are best consular for drug use especially in developing countries like pakistan and india
Pharmacists have an enormous opportunities and sources to counsel the patients irrespective of the economical criteria and the set up they work for, as they have a detailed and complete knowledge on medication, lifestyle and medical histories even as they will be the interacting links between pharmacists and physicians.. Might be rural or urban, well developed or underdeveloped, tertiary care or Primary Health Care setup, it depends on how well we interact with the Health care professionals as well the patients.
As a clinical pharmacist we need to access and follow the patient right from his/her admission into the hospital peeping into the complete history (medication, medical, family, socio-economic) so that there will be a clear evidence of the diagnosis and the counselling would be appropriate. Any health care professional can be a better counselor, if the same process is followed and the delivery of best counselling depends mainly on individual perspective, In case of rural areas it would be better if we use pictographs or some aids to counsel so that it may be a better part of medication compliance for better, safe, effective and economical outcome.
Being a so-called clinical pharmacist (in Belgium), I believe that we could be valuable members to any multidisciplinary team (e.g. on a geriatric ward reviewing drug therapy; improving outcomes in a HFREF inpopulation). In that sense, the pharmacist could be an excellent counsellor.
Since pharmacists do not prescribe drugs, nor administer them or follow-up on diagnoses, we will be of most value when working together with other health-care professionals, mostly nurses and physicians. At least, this is what I believe.
The modern day pharmacists are effectively learn the physiology,pharmacology and as well as communications skills as part of the curriculum. Coming to the issue of patient counselling on the medications use and management , it is very pertinent to say that pharmacists beyond doubt are the well equipped professionals to address on the issue of handling the medicines,its usage,mechanisms,adverse effects,timing of administration,precautions,drug-drug and food interactions etc., Since they spent considerable time with the patients they are certainly one of the best option available for patient counselling on medications usage and compliance.
When a drug is prescribed, most certainly, there is a crucial role for pharmacists in terms of enhancing 'patient adherence' and 'patient compliance'. But I wouldn't call this as 'counseling'. How about the patient's right a for a 'privacy'?
Pharmacies all generally crowded. There is a remote chance for a privacy. Suppose someone has a 'sexual problem' or a 'communicable disease' and he has been prescribed a bunch of medicine - how would we maintain this particular person's privacy rights in a busy pharmacy?
Surely enough, you want to buy a good 'allergy pill' or a 'cough medication', you could get the 'advice' of the pharmacists. Even 10 people surrounding you, you don't mind asking for such opinions.
Indeed most of the modern community and hospital pharmacies has seperate counselling rooms(areas),so there is absolutely no privacy issues. This is more frequent in arabian gulf countries , there is dedicated counselling rooms for the male and female dispensing windows due to the cultural issues.
I'll give here an example of practical life, sometimes you have to prescribe pregnancy category D after analyzing risk benefit ratio. Just like this, pharmacists are the only professional persons suitable most for patients' medication and drug related problems though s/he had learned psychology or not in the curriculum.
and if you specifically want the answer, it's yes, all pharmacists should have a clinical psychology course in his curriculum.
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