[Physician-pharmacist collaboration: a way to improve the quality of drug prescribing]

The medical prescription is the end-result of a structured process. It is, in effect, a medicolegal document that binds the physician who writes it as well as the pharmacist who delivers it, with a civil duty of care that is protected by penal sanction. Moreover, prescriptions carry important costs, and can be the source of errors, especially where there are breakdowns in the continuity of patient care. These features underline the importance of the act of "prescribing", and the need for ways to improve its quality through increased efficiency and safety. The Swiss experience of physicians-pharmacists Quality Circles for drug prescription in the community and in the nursing homes, represent with the medication review, one method of safeguarding quality prescribing.