Patient counselling and medicine information…just how far do you go?

Abstract

By the early 1980’s the four-year pharmacy course had been established for just on a decade with a curriculum emphasis on pharmaceutical chemistry and pharmacology. The practice of community pharmacy had evolved from little old men in white coats mixing their secret lotions and potions behind closed doors in a dispensary housed in the back of the premises, to bright new facilities with open dispensaries and the pharmacist in full view of the public, easily accessible. Pharmaceutical care was the new “buzz word” with patient counselling, monitoring and provision of medicine information becoming the focus of community pharmacy practice.