Pharmaceutical care: need of the hour in India

Pharmaceutical care signifies a shift of practice in pharmacy from being drug product-oriented to the one that is patient-oriented to achieve definite outcomes that improves patients' quality of life. In order to achieve pharmaceutical care, pharmacists have to assume the role of caregiver, communicator, decision-maker, teacher, researcher, life-long learner, leader, and manager, which will help him to provide individualized care. As the patients visit community pharmacists more often, they can play a major role in providing individual care to the patients especially in the management of chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Community pharmacists have to upgrade their expertise in drug product orientation to that of clinical orientation to provide patient oriented care. Hence pharmacists have a larger role to play in managing NCDs which are rapidly increasing in India.