Design of Pharmaceutical Care Process for Retail Pharmacies Based on Pareto Analysis / Asian Journal of Social Pharmacy, 2022,

17 (1)

Design of Pharmaceutical Care Process for Retail Pharmacies

Based on Pareto Analysis
An Lianyu, Liu Linchuan, Wang Shuling*
(School of Business Administration, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang 110016, China)

Abstract

Objective To study the problems of pharmaceutical care in retail pharmacies and provide reference for the
standardized development of pharmaceutical care in China. Methods Based on the literature of CNKI database,
Pareto analysis was used to study the present situation of pharmaceutical care in retail pharmacies. Then the
following problems in pharmaceutical care were found such as low personnel professional quality, inadequate
attention, imperfect laws and regulations, and lack of standard service process. As to the first three problems, there
were more research references. But there was less literature on the standard care process. Results and Conclusion
Focusing on the customer demand, taking drug sales process as the basic framework of pharmaceutical care
standardized process, and combining with the collaboration, the service process including prescription drugs
review and OTC drugs purchase consultation is established. This process elaborates the division of staff services
as well as the service standards in pre-sale, on-sale, and after-sale stages. Besides, it also puts forward some
advice for the previous three problems, which will ensure the smooth implementation of pharmaceutical care in
drugstores.

Keywords: retail pharmacy; pharmaceutical care process; Pareto analysis

In recent years, the incidence of chronic diseases
among Chinese residents has been increasing every year.
As a result, the demand for pharmaceutical care is on
the rise, too. However, most medical institutions cannot
meet the needs of the public, and pharmaceutical care in
retail pharmacies becomes another source for them [1].
Based on Pareto analysis of the existing literature, it
is found that the problems of pharmaceutical care in
pharmacies can be divided into the following four
categories: service personnel problems, insufficient
attention, imperfect laws and regulations, and lack of
standardized service procedures. Domestic researchers
have had rich research results on the first three kinds
* Corresponding author: Wang Shuling, associate professor. Major
research area: pharmacy management and drug supply chain
management. Tel: 024-23986543, E-mail: lingyi50@163.com.
of problems, but there are few research fields on the
standardization of pharmaceutical care process in retail
pharmacies. Therefore, this paper is a supplementary
study on the existing problems in retail pharmacies. It
takes the standardized process of pharmaceutical care
as the entry point to conduct the study, aiming to build
the standardized process of pharmaceutical care in
retail pharmacies and provide reference for the future
development of pharmaceutical care in retail pharmacies.
1 Concept of pharmaceutical care
1.1 Concept of pharmaceutical care in retail
pharmacies
The widely accepted definition of pharmaceutical

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 Design of Pharmaceutical Care Process for Retail Pharmacies Based on Pareto Analysis / Asian Journal of Social Pharmacy, 2022, 17 (1)
care was jointly completed by Hepler and Strand
in 1991, which refers to the provision of direct and
responsible drug treatment services to improve the
quality of patients’ life [2]. Pharmaceutical care is a
broad concept, referring to a series of pharmaceutical-
related services that are provided for the safety and
health management of patients’ medication.
At the end of the 20th century, the concept of
pharmaceutical care was introduced to China, but it
was not clearly defined. People in retail pharmacies
believed that pharmaceutical care only included
some primary services such as drug supply, drug
dispensing, and simple medication guidance, etc.
With the increasing demand for healthy living
standard, these primary services cannot meet the
needs of consumers. Therefore, pharmaceutical
care requires new development and extension.
Pharmacists should change from dispensers to
results-oriented and patient-centered pharmaceutical
information providers. Pharmacists must assume
more responsibilities and commitments by enhancing
their knowledge and technical ability [3] . In this
paper, pharmaceutical care in retail pharmacies refers
to a series of pharmaceutical-related services, such
as drug storage, drug inspection, drug safety and
quality management, consumer consultation on drug
purchase, consumer consultation in the course of
disease prevention or treatment, and direct or indirect
drug treatment.
1.2 Pharmaceutical care personnel
In the traditional cognition, pharmaceutical
care personnel are only pharmacists. But at present,
consumers’ demand for service has extended to all
practitioners of drugstores, including salespersons,
cashiers, quality inspectors and others. In this paper,
pharmaceutical care personnel refer to pharmacists
in pharmacies and other practitioners who also
offer pharmaceutical care in pharmacies. Centering
on pharmacists, they make efforts to create high-
quality pharmaceutical care through division of labor,
cooperation and joint efforts to guarantee the safety,
51
effectiveness and economy of drug use for patients.
1.3 Transformation of pharmaceutical care concept
The original meaning of pharmaceutical care is
to guide consumers to use medicine scientifically and
rationally through pharmacists’ instruction, which can
ensure the safety and effectiveness of medicine to the
greatest extent [3]. Combined with the actual situation
of the development of retail drugstores in China, the
significance of developing pharmaceutical care has
become great. From the perspective of drugstores
operation, developing pharmaceutical care can
transform their old business philosophy of focusing
on drug sales into promoting the rational drug use of
consumers [4]. Besides, it can change the economic
benefit maximization of drug sales to the business
development model of drugstores, which attaches
equal importance to economic and social benefits.
From the perspective of social development, with the
increasing demand for a healthy living standard and
the management of chronic disease, pharmaceutical
care can ensure consumers’ life safety and health
state [5]. Therefore, the significance of pharmaceutical
care is no longer limited to drug safety guidance, but
to protecting consumers’ life and promoting their
happiness.
2 Current situation of pharmaceutical care
in retail pharmacies
2.1 Pareto analysis of pharmaceutical care problems
in retail pharmacies
Using literature research method, taking CNKI
database as data sources, with the theme of “retail
pharmacies” “pharmaceutical care problems” and
“the present situation of pharmaceutical care”, a total
of 130 pharmaceutical care problems were retrieved
within 30 articles from 2007 to 2019. According to
Pareto analysis, the main problems of pharmaceutical
care were studied and the following results were
obtained (Fig. 1).
 Design of Pharmaceutical Care Process for Retail Pharmacies Based on Pareto Analysis / Asian Journal of Social Pharmacy, 2022, 17 (1)
Fig. 1 Accumulative pharmaceutical problems in retail pharmacies
According to Pareto analysis, the problem
of pharmacy service personnel accounts for 32%,
insufficient attention to pharmaceutical care
accounts for 20%, imperfect laws and regulations
account for 16%, and lack of standardized process
of pharmaceutical care accounts for 12%. Since
these four types of problems account for 80%, they
should be solved urgently in the development of
pharmaceutical care in China’s retail pharmacies.
2.2 Analysis of main problems of the service in retail
pharmacies
2.2.1 Insufficient allocation of service personnel and
bad sense of service in drugstores
The problem of the pharmacy service staff is the
shortage of pharmacists. Besides, these pharmacists
have low practicing ability with weak consciousness
of service. Wheeler JS pointed out that with the
transformation of pharmaceutical care mode, the role
and function of pharmacists also changed. Then he
52
proposed to strengthen the function of pharmacists,
enhancing their education and training to improve
their professional skills in the form of pharmacist
legislation [6]. Oshima S, et al. adopted the method
of questionnaire survey to understand the evaluation
of pharmacists by Japanese public after the revision
of the “Pharmacist Law” and the evaluation of
pharmacists themselves. They found that after the
revision of the “Pharmacist Law”, patients wanted
to get more professional pharmaceutical care, and
pharmacist had to make greater efforts to narrow
the difference with the expectations of patients [7].
Domestic scholar, De Xianhui, et al. conducted an
in-depth discussion on the insufficient allocation
of licensed pharmacists in remote areas. Then he
proposed to build a remote prescription review
mechanism of licensed pharmacists and moderately
relax the examination standards for licensed
pharmacists in remote areas, which could alleviate
the shortage of licensed pharmacists [8] . For the
low practice ability of licensed pharmacists, Li
Wenhua and Li Baoquan put forward measures to
 Design of Pharmaceutical Care Process for Retail Pharmacies Based on Pareto Analysis / Asian Journal of Social Pharmacy, 2022, 17 (1)
improve the training mechanism of pharmaceutical
professionals and the assessment system of licensed
service ability of pharmacists, which would improve
the professional ability of pharmacists and guarantee
consumers’ safe and rational drug use [9].
2.2.2 Insufficient attention to pharmaceutical care
The lack of attention to pharmaceutical care is
mainly caused by the low enthusiasm of drugstore
operators and the lack of investment. Nazar H and
Nazar Z used a mixed method to investigate and
interview stakeholders from the northeast of England,
and found that the current lack of evidence support
for pharmacy services hindered its sustainable
development. Then, he proposed that clear goals and
standards of pharmaceutical care should be established
to improve relevant systems of pharmaceutical care [10].
Zhang Peipei, Jing Hao [11] and Li Man [12] analyzed
this problem, and found two main reasons. On the
one hand, the management department lacks relevant
laws and regulations on pharmaceutical care in
retail pharmacies, leading to operators’ wait-and-see
attitude towards developing pharmaceutical care. On
the other hand, the retail pharmacies don’t have the
standards for process and service in pharmaceutical
care. In addition, the operators lack the corresponding
reference basis, which leads to their low enthusiasm in
carrying out pharmaceutical care.
2 . 2 . 3 T h e l a w s a n d re g u l a t i o n s re l a t e d t o
pharmaceutical care are not sound
The imperfect laws and regulations on
pharmaceutical care are manifested in the behavior
of service, the compensation mechanism, and the
management system of pharmaceutical service
fees in retail pharmacies. AB Almarsdottir, et al.
pointed out that the concept of clinical pharmacy
and retail pharmacies was conducive to clarifying
the positioning of pharmacists in the healthcare
system and the important role of pharmacists in
53
pharmacy practice. Then, they proposed that relevant
systems of pharmaceutical care had to be established
to improve the quality of pharmaceutical care [13].
Domestic scholars, Wang Jian, Kang Zhen [14], and
Xu Gan [15] also studied this problem, and put forward
some suggestions on standardizing pharmaceutical
care in retail pharmacies, adding pharmaceutical
service compensation mechanism, and constructing
management system of pharmaceutical service fees
which could provide a reference basis for perfecting
pharmaceutical care regulations in retail pharmacies.
2.2.4 Lack of standardized process
In the service process of retail drugstores, they
don’t have a standard related to pharmaceutical
care. Besides, the content of pharmaceutical care
lacks systematic rules. There are few papers on
domestic pharmaceutical care process. Li Weinie
and Chen Yuwen [16] designed the preliminary
pharmaceutical care process in 2006, which involved
the pharmaceutical care content of drug dispensing
and simple medication guidance. At present, the
concept of pharmaceutical care has changed from
focusing on drug supply to guiding the review of
drug prescription and drug treatment. The preliminary
pharmaceutical care process mentioned in the
literature lacks the contents of prescription drugs
and pharmaceutical care. Therefore, the existing
preliminary pharmaceutical care process has been
unable to meet the needs of consumers for life and
healthy life, and a new pharmaceutical care model and
service process should be constructed to adapt to the
will of consumers. To sum up, this paper focuses on
the pharmaceutical care process of retail pharmacies
as the research entry point, aiming to build a complete
and systematic pharmaceutical care normative process
with consumers as the center and the principle of
scientific, reasonable and implementable, so as to
improve the quality and efficiency of pharmaceutical
care and promote the further development of
pharmaceutical care of retail pharmacies.
 Design of Pharmaceutical Care Process for Retail Pharmacies Based on Pareto Analysis / Asian Journal of Social Pharmacy, 2022, 17 (1)
3 Design the process of pharmaceutical care
in retail pharmacies
3.1 Principles of designing service process
3.1.1 Implementability
The design of pharmaceutical care process
should follow the principle of implementability
and keep the balance between the resources and the
needs of consumers. On the premise of satisfying the
needs of consumers, the optimal allocation of human
resources and material resources of drugstores can be
realized through the coordination, which can prevent
the emergence of pharmaceutical care activities
beyond the ability of staff.
3.1.2 Team management based on division of labor
In designing the process of service, not only
the division of labor should be clear, but also the
cooperation of different links should be achieved. The
basic principle is the integrated management of the
team. Clear division of labor enables pharmaceutical
care providers to understand their job responsibilities
and improve service quality. Cooperation can ensure
the consistency of pharmaceutical care process
and make consumers comfortable while receiving
services.
3.1.3 Professional matching
Professional matching refers to the degree of
matching between the contents of pharmaceutical
care and the professional skill of pharmaceutical
care providers. Pharmaceutical care involves
pharmacists’ pharmaceutical skill and professional
knowledge. Professional matching should be
considered in designing the process of service to
avoid the situation that employees cannot adapt to
the post requirements.
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3.2 Division of pharmaceutical care process and
design of service content
3 . 2 . 1 P ro c e d u re s f o r p re s c r i p t i o n a n d O T C
pharmaceutical care
(1) Objective of pharmaceutical care process.
According to the literature review, pharmaceutical care
process designed by Levi is as follows: understanding
the drug users → recommending safe, effective,
reasonable and economical drugs →introducing
medication methods to ensure medication safety
→ establishing medication calendar → making
regular follow-up visits. However, due to the rapid
development of retail pharmacies and consumers’
increasing demand for services, the service process has
been unable to meet the requirements of consumers
who purchase drugs in retail pharmacies. Consumers’
demand for chronic disease management is on the
rise, especially in prevention and diagnosis. Therefore,
the goal of this paper is to meet the service needs
of consumers, which include the provision of free
testing activities, timely recommendation of medical
treatment, drug treatment management and other
services. Thus consumers can feel the good experience
of pharmaceutical care process, which will achieve the
goal of protecting consumers’ health and safety.
I n t h i s p a p e r, d e s i g n i n g t h e p r o c e s s o f
pharmaceutical care is based on the drug sales process,
and the whole pharmaceutical care content is divided
into three stages. They are pre-sale pharmaceutical
care, on-sale pharmaceutical care, and after-sale
pharmaceutical care. A new standardized process
of pharmaceutical care is constructed to carry out
the management of pharmaceutical care in retail
pharmacies. The simple service process is as follows:
pre-sale pharmaceutical care → on-sale process
pharmaceutical care → after-sale pharmaceutical care.
(2) Items and contents of prescription drug
service. The flow chart of pharmaceutical care for
prescription drugs is shown in Fig. 2.
 Design of Pharmaceutical Care Process for Retail Pharmacies Based on Pareto Analysis / Asian Journal of Social Pharmacy, 2022, 17 (1)

Fig. 2 Flow chart of pharmaceutical care for prescription drugs in retail pharmacies

(3) Items and contents of OTC drugstore service. adjustment can be used to recommend cost-effective
There is no prescription review and evaluation process drugs for consumers’ demand. Therefore, the flow chart
in the sales of OTC drugs. Prescription review and drug of OTC pharmaceutical care is shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 Flow chart of pharmaceutical care for OTC drugs

3 . 2 . 2 S e r v i c e c o n t e n t s i n d i f f e re n t l i n k s o f (2) Contents of pharmaceutical care in the on-

pharmaceutical care
(1) Contents of pre-sale pharmaceutical care.
In the stage of pre-sale pharmaceutical care, retail
pharmacies first need to inspect the quality of drugs,
completing the pre-sale quality management to
ensure the safety of drugs. Then they must understand
the needs of consumers coming to the stores, and
complete the preliminary diagnosis of the disease,
etiology and other factors, which will provide a
reference for consumers to purchase the drugs they
need. The process of pre-sale pharmaceutical care is as
follows: pre-sale pharmaceutical quality management
→ drug information consultation in the store →
providing free testing activities → recommending
drugs to consumers in time.
sale process. Prescription and OTC drugs are sold in
different ways. Prescription drugs must be reviewed
by pharmacists. Therefore, prescriptions held by
customers should be reviewed and evaluated in
the first place. When the verification is correct, the
corresponding drugs will be sold to the customers.
Meanwhile, the customers are informed of drug
efficacy, method of use, and side effects. Normally,
a detailed written guide will be given to consumers.
The pharmaceutical care process of prescription drugs
sale is as follows: prescription review and evaluation
→ drug dispensing → medication consultation and
guidance → medicine therapy management.
OTC products are safer for consumers to use
and can be purchased without a prescription. The
content of OTC pharmaceutical care is to understand

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 Design of Pharmaceutical Care Process for Retail Pharmacies Based on Pareto Analysis / Asian Journal of Social Pharmacy, 2022, 17 (1)
consumers’ demands. Then, several types of drugs can
be listed for customers to choose the most economical
and effective one. After that, consumers are informed
of the usage and dosage of drugs purchased to ensure
the safety of drugs. The process of pharmaceutical
care in OTC drug sales is as follows: understanding
consumers’ demand for drugs → recommending safe,
effective and economical drugs → dispensing drugs
→ guiding drug use.
(3) Contents of after-sale pharmaceutical
services. The after-sale pharmaceutical service
of retail drugstores should record the situation of
consumers’ drug use to provide a reference for
their future purchase of drugs. Then, the drug use
of consumers is tracked, and the unreasonable drug
use will be corrected and adverse drug reactions are
collected. Finally, problems that occur in the process
of consumers’ drug use are studied and evaluated
to provide information on drug use for relevant
departments and manufacturers. The process of after-
sale pharmaceutical care is as follows: establishing
health records for consumers → tracing of consumer
drug use → monitoring and collecting adverse drug
reactions → research and evaluation of drug use.
4 Personnel allocation and service standards
of pharmaceutical care process
Scientific and reasonable division of labor in
pharmacy pharmaceutical care can improve service
quality and efficiency. Therefore, rational division of
labor should be carried out among pharmaceutical care
providers to promote the high-quality and efficient
development of pharmaceutical care.
4.1 Responsibilities and service standards for
pharmaceutical care personnel
The quality management of drugs should be
completed by quality inspectors and storage personnel.
Quality inspection personnel shall be responsible for
the quality acceptance of drug procurement. Because
of the standardization of acceptance, the quality and
safety of purchased drugs can be guaranteed before
56
storage. The warehousing personnel are responsible
for the quality management of drug storage. They
should register the purchased drugs, classify different
categories of drugs, and ensure the corresponding
storage environment for drugs with different storage
methods. Besides, they have to track and manage the
drugs on the shelves, and remove the drugs beyond
the validity period to ensure their quality and safety.
Therefore, these two groups cooperate to guarantee
the pre-sale quality management of drugs.
Drug consultation and free testing for customers
can be done by pharmacy assistants. Shop assistants
who are familiar with different types of drugs in
pharmacies can provide detailed drug consultation
services for consumers. First of all, they should
have a preliminary understanding of consumers’
demand for drugs. Then, they can provide them with
professional and accurate drug information. Secondly,
they can guide consumers to use daily treatment
instruments after properly evaluating consumers’
health, and provide professional advice. Finally, they
can determine whether the consumers should go to
the hospital for a more comprehensive diagnosis and
treatment.
4.2 Responsibilities and service standards of
pharmaceutical care personnel in the sales process
Professional matching factors such as
prescription review and evaluation, drug
dispensing, medication consultation and guidance in
pharmaceutical services should be taken into account,
which can be completed by pharmacists. Pharmacists
should use their professional knowledge to review
and evaluate the prescriptions hold by consumers
before they can get the drugs. After that, they should
also give consumers some guidance on medication
methods, precautions and contraindications. They had
better form a written guidelines for customers so that
they can guarantee the rational drug use.
As to pharmaceutical service of OTC drugs,
pharmacy personnel should recommend safe, effective
and economical drugs according to consumers’
purchase intention and actual situation. These services
 Design of Pharmaceutical Care Process for Retail Pharmacies Based on Pareto Analysis / Asian Journal of Social Pharmacy, 2022, 17 (1)
can be completed by salespersons. After the drug
dispensing, pharmacists will guide consumers to use
drugs rationally with the information of the usage
and dosage of drugs. Besides, they should inform
the customers of the compatibility of drugs and food
taboos. For example, vitamin C tablets cannot be used
with seafood.
In addition, the service personnel should be
enthusiastic in the service process, listen to consumers’
demands carefully, to provide the best pharmaceutical
care guidance based on consumers’ wishes.
4.3 Responsibilities and service standards of
pharmaceutical care personnel in after-sale stage
The establishment of health records for
consumers and the tracking of consumer drug use
can be completed by the pharmacy personnel. After
recording the information of consumers’ purchase of
Fig. 4 Flow chart of division of pharmaceutical care providers in retail pharmacies
5 Notes for the implementation of
pharmaceutical care in retail pharmacies
5.1 Pharmaceutical care instruments and file
management system shall be equipped
An exclusive area for pharmaceutical care
57
drugs, their health files should be established, which
will provide the basis for consumers to purchase
medicine again. Then they can track the situation of
consumers’ drug use through regular communication
with them.
Adverse drug reaction monitoring and collection,
drug use research and evaluation should be done
by the cooperation of pharmacists and cashiers in
pharmacies. The cashier shall report the collect
consumers’ medication information to the pharmacists,
who shall then design and provide effective
pharmaceutical tracking and monitoring to prevent
adverse drug reactions caused by improper drug use.
Meanwhile. They also monitor and collect adverse
drug reactions, conduct research and evaluation on
drug utilization, and provide information for relevant
departments and manufacturers. The flow chart of
division of pharmaceutical care providers in retail
pharmacies is shown in Fig.4.
should be set up in retail pharmacies. On the one
hand, this area is equipped with professional file
management system, which can record consumers’
health conditions. With the aid of modern information
technology, the contents of pharmaceutical care can
be expanded. For example, microblogs, WeChat and
other network information channels can be used to
 Design of Pharmaceutical Care Process for Retail Pharmacies Based on Pareto Analysis / Asian Journal of Social Pharmacy, 2022, 17 (1)
promote rational drug use and provide professional
medical consulting services. On the other hand, basic
medical equipment such as blood pressure meter,
thermometer and blood glucose meter can provide
consumers with more free value-added services.
5.2 Staffing of pharmaceutical care
Retail pharmacies must take pharmacists as the
core to carry out pharmaceutical care because they can
use their expertise for consumers. During the service
process, at least one pharmacist shall be stationed in
the pharmacy to provide professional pharmaceutical
knowledge. At the same time, he can coordinate with
other drugstore staff to offer the best pharmaceutical
care. At present, retail pharmacies generally do not
have full-time customer service positions. But the after-
sales tracking and feedback are carried out through
many times of communication, because it is necessary
to conduct unified tracking, statistics and processing
of consumers’ drug use. In particular, there is great
potential for drug online sales. The cashiers cannot solve
some technical problems in information communication,
tracking, statistics and processing. In the short term,
cashier staff can cooperate with pharmacists to these
problems. However, from the development trend of
drugstores, it is urgent for chain drugstores to have full-
time regional customer service personnel.
6 Discussions and suggestions
The purpose of this paper is to improve the
quality and efficiency of pharmaceutical care and
promote the rational and healthy development
of pharmaceutical care. The implementation
of pharmaceutical care process depends on the
following aspects. First, legislation is the guarantee
of developing pharmaceutical care. A sound law
and system on pharmaceutical care can ensure the
feasibility of pharmaceutical care in pharmacies,
which will help pharmaceutical care process to
be carried out smoothly. Secondly, the capability
of licensed pharmacists is the basis for the
implementation of pharmaceutical care process.
58
Therefore, improving the capability of licensed
pharmacists will guarantee pharmaceutical care
and its service process. Third, the cooperation of
consumers can motivate the enthusiasm of service
staff in pharmaceutical care process. Besides, and the
supervision from consumers can ensure the quality
and efficiency of pharmaceutical care. Therefore, the
following suggestions are put forward for the effective
implementation of pharmaceutical care process.
6.1 Speeding up the legislative process of
pharmaceutical care
One of the important reasons for the lack
of relevant laws and regulations is that drugstore
operators do not pay enough attention to
pharmaceutical care. A sound legal system can ensure
the smooth development of pharmaceutical care in
retail pharmacies. In addition, the responsibilities
and rights of licensed pharmacists also need to
be stipulated and protected by law. However, the
industry self-discipline standard “Good Pharmacy
Practice” is not compulsory in China, it has been only
implemented in the developed cities so far. In the new
“Regulations on Professional Qualification System of
Licensed Pharmacists” and “Interim Measures for the
Administration of Continuing Education for Licensed
Pharmacists” of 2019, the qualification examination,
responsibilities, supervision and continuing education
of licensed pharmacists are clearly stipulated.
However, these regulations only encourage licensed
pharmacists to participate in pharmaceutical care,
and there is no clear words for punishment if they
don’t. Whether licensed pharmacists carry out
pharmaceutical care is up to their own decision,
lacking certain binding force. Therefore, the
establishment of a binding reward and punishment
system for pharmacists can ensure the feasibility of
pharmaceutical care in retail pharmacies.
6.2 Reforming the training mode of pharmaceutical
professionals in colleges and universities
From the perspective of the cultivation of
 Design of Pharmaceutical Care Process for Retail Pharmacies Based on Pareto Analysis / Asian Journal of Social Pharmacy, 2022, 17 (1)
pharmaceutical professionals in colleges and
universities, the current pharmaceutical education
mode should be reformed. At present, the training
objectives of pharmaceutical professionals in
most domestic colleges and universities are
similar to those of pharmaceutical preparations
and pharmaceutical engineering. They pay much
attention to the skills training in drug production,
research and development, which lacks courses in
clinical practice and pharmacotherapeutics. In order
to cultivate pharmaceutical talents with solid basic
theory, strong practical ability and high humanistic
quality, the curriculum of clinical pharmacy should
be added to the professional curriculum, including
pharmacy professional knowledge, anatomy and
physiology, drug interaction, primary diagnosis and
drug treatment. This will strengthen the basic medical
knowledge of pharmacists. In addition, we should
expand practice channels, increase practice teaching
courses, build a perfect practice teaching system, and
strengthen the practice ability of pharmacists.
6.3 Improving the continuing education system of
licensed pharmacists
It is the first step for pharmacists to obtain their
qualification certificates through the examination. But
the licensed pharmacist continuing education is a basic
system that makes the majority of licensed pharmacists
adapt to the needs of pharmaceutical services,
comprehensively improve their practice ability, and
realize lifelong education and career development.
Therefore, it is necessary to establish the continuing
education and training system of licensed pharmacists.
The perfect continuing education and training system
of licensed pharmacists should include two aspects.
One is to improve their professional knowledge.
Licensed pharmacists can gain pharmaceutical care
knowledge by participating in lectures, collective
research and personal training. Once they complete
the required contents and credits, licensed pharmacists
can get the relevant certificates with different levels of
professional knowledge, such as primary, intermediate
and senior levels of certificates. The other is that
59
pharmacists should improve their professional
practice ability. Therefore, pharmacies can establish a
targeted and practical training system according to the
development of the industry and social needs, which
will provide skills improvement training, professional
qualification certification training and other forms of
training to pharmacists.
6.4 Improving consumers’ cognition of
pharmaceutical care
To i m p r o v e c o n s u m e r s ’ a w a r e n e s s o f
pharmaceutical care, we should strengthen the
publicity of licensed pharmacists and knowledge
related to pharmaceutical care. Through regular
lectures on basic drug use, daily health care, drug
preservation and management in nearby communities,
issuing rational drug use leaflets, and publicizing
health knowledge such as chronic diseases of the
elderly, consumers’ awareness of pharmaceutical
care will be improved. Besides, we should improve
consumers’ awareness of drug safety. It is not enough
to rely on the unilateral power of licensed pharmacists
to improve rational drug use. Patients should know
the importance of drug safety and rational use, and
actively cooperate with pharmacists to carry out
relevant work. Only with the effective cooperation
of pharmacists and consumers can the safety and
effectiveness of drugs be guaranteed to the greatest
extent.
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