Articles
Pharmaceutical care or professional advice? Barriers to the implementation of pharmaceutical care in Poland
The provision of pharmaceutical services in a public pharmacy is related to the performance of a series of specialized activities aimed at the realization of the basic mission of the pharmacy, which is the protection of public health. Pharmaceutical care, included in the catalog of pharmaceutical services, is part of the pro-social system of achieving the objectives and tasks of a retail pharmacy. However, its implementation in pharmacy practice encounters a number of obstacles and barriers. Barriers to the implementation of pharmaceutical care result primarily from a lack of precise and understandable for all participants doctors, patients and pharmacists legal regulations controlling the basic principles of cooperation. They are a derivative of the lack of vision and the definition of the functions that pharmaceutical care should perform in the process of managing pharmacotherapy. This article presents the essence of pharmaceutical care in the process of managing the pharmacotherapy of the patient and indicates the difference between its effective implementation and the realization of the professional advisory process in a public pharmacy. The conclusions and recommendations contained therein were formulated and presented on the basis of the results of an empirical study.