[Pharmaceutical technology and pharmaceutical care in the dispensary]

In this lecture the science 'Pharmaceutical Technology' was briefly elucidated, but the main part was about the concept of 'Pharmaceutical Care' in the community pharmacy. Pharmaceutical Care aims at ensuring a safe, efficacious, and cost-effective pharmacotherapy. Thus the pharmacist tries--in collaboration with other healthcare professionals --to improve the clinical and humanistic outcomes of the therapy. Moreover, an efficacious and rational drug therapy is cost-saving, for the patient as well as for the health insurer. A pharmacist delivering Pharmaceutical Care not only dispenses medication, but also takes responsibility about the outcome of the drug therapy. Pharmaceutical Care in community pharmacies encompasses the following activities: Advice about prescribed drugs, to ensure that patients take their medication as correct, as safe and as compliant as possible. Advice about self-care: counselling about OTC-medication. Prevention of medication errors, for example drug interactions. Pay attention to prevention of diseases: for example stimulation of vaccination. Collaboration with physicians, especially general practitioners, both aiming at an optimal drug therapy for the patient Pharmaceutical Care in the hospital setting ('Clinical Pharmacy'): clinical pharmacists participate in drawing up, evaluating and following up the pharmacotherapy of every individual patient, in close collaboration with physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals on the ward. In Belgium Pharmaceutical Care is in the making. Scientific research on this topic is carried out by the Pharmaceutical Care Unit of Ghent University. An overview of their ongoing research projects was given. Finally, the problems encountered with the implementation of Pharmaceutical Care were highlighted.