Pharmacists self care focus

THE importance of the full involvement of pharmacists in self care should be promoted by governments and insurers, the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) has said in its Statement of Policy “Pharmacy͗ Gateway to care”.

The point was being made in a presentation during the 77th torld Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Seoul, South Korea.

The FIP calls for pharmacists to be fully incorporated into health systems both for the prevention and management of illness, and for them to be properly remunerated for delivery of their self-care services.

The new statement also makes a number of other recommendations for pharmacy organisations and pharmacists.

It argues that pharmacy organisations should ensure that rural communities have access to pharmacies, and that pharmacists should develop and adopt standard operating procedures for quality management of selfcare services, such as proper documentation of medicines reconciliation, adherence support and medication management.

The statement follows the release in Mar Ϯ017 of a ϲϴ-page report by FIP entitled “Pharmacy as a gateway to care͗ Helping people towards better health”.

The full FIP Statement of Policy “Pharmacy͗ Gateway to care” can be found by li <inG ,ere.