Case reports from individual consultations provided to patients in the pharmacy

Overview

The focus of pharmaceutical care is to optimise the patient's pharmacotherapy, aiming to maximise the effects and minimise the risks of treatment. In the pharmacy, the current legislation allows the pharmacist to carry out this activity not only in the context of dispensing activities, but also during the provision of individual counselling. This area of ‘modern pharmaceutical care’ is a more individualised form of expert advice, ideally carried out in a separate consulting room of the pharmacy through a structured conversation with a trained pharmacist. In addition to the management of drug-related problems in optimising pharmacotherapy, pharmacists in the Czech Republic are involved in screening for selected diseases, i.e. in the area of prevention. An undeniable advantage of providing individual counselling in the pharmacy is the time allocated for undisturbed communication with the patient, leading, among other things, to the establishment of trust and a better understanding of the patient's attitudes towards treatment. The content of the paper will include three case reports from the practice of a pharmacist involved in this area of pharmaceutical care. Specifically, it will address the practical attributes of optimizing pharmacotherapy in three geriatric patients and show a possible way to deal with them.

Keywords:

Pharmaceutical Care – adherence to treatment – individual counselling in the pharmacy – drug-related problem