Long-term care pharmacy services: a new dimension of pharmacy practice

Pharmacists providing care to patients must have a commitment to quality patient care, have well-developed operations systems, possess refined clinical skills, and be able to effect excellent communication with the clinical and administrative staff. These attributes of pharmacy practice should exist in both the acute care and long-term care settings. Pharmacy practice in the long-term care setting, a unique position due to the everchanging definition of long-term care, may best be referred to as an alternative site for the application of contemporary pharmacy distribution and clinical systems for patient care over an extended period.