Extending the Role of Pharmacists in Patient Care: Are Pharmacists in Developing Nations Ready to Change?

Abstract

Patient care in a community is becoming critical due to change in the impact of diseases on health. The provision of pharmaceutical care in a community will bring in positive changes in health care delivery. However, the pharmacist in developing countries has remained obscure in direct health- care of the patient. The main aim of this article is to reinforce the concept that there is a need to strengthen the basic pharmaceutical system in the Arab and African world before implementing any advanced clinical pharmacy or pharmaceutical care services to our communities. This article gives a good insight of where pharmacy practice in Arab, African and other developing countries globally stand in comparison to developed nations. A trend is apparent towards increased emphasis on clinical pharmacy practice. Country-specific pharmacy education and practice are discussed, analyzing the progress and opportunities available to pharmacy graduates. In addition, the future of pharmacy practice and clinical roles of hospital and community pharmacists were reviewed. It was realized that pharmacy practice and progress in many of the Arab and African countries were a mirror image of the status of the country itself. A new vision for the future of pharmacy practice needs to be considered and reorientation of pharmacy services in the existing system is needed. There should be a professional approach to speed up the rise towards practicing clinical pharmacy and pharmaceutical profession. This is achieved by interviewing patients, documenting their health details and educating them on methods of improving their health, including proper medication usage and lifestyle modification. Furthermore, colleges of pharmacy need to revise and update their curricula to accommodate the progressively increasing development in the pharmaceutical education and the evolving new roles of practicing pharmacists in their community.