In the future, fee-based advice from pharmacists?

Pharmacists want to offer fee-based advice and systematic therapy support

09/18/2013

In future, there will also be fee-based consultations in Germany's pharmacies. This explained Friedemann Schmidt, President of the Federal Association of German Pharmacist Associations, on Tuesday at the German Pharmacists' Day in Dusseldorf, in which about 300 delegates of pharmacies chambers and associations discuss the future of the profession. Thus, among other things, a systematic therapy accompaniment should be offered. But this would require regulatory framework conditions to be created, according to Schmidt.

Intensive advice from pharmacists is more required than ever
In the course of demographic change, patients require more frequent and detailed advice on side effects and drug interactions and therapeutic measures, reports the President of the Federal Association of German Pharmacist Associations. „Together, we want to enter into a debate with politics and society on the question of what functions pharmacists in the public pharmacy should take over in the future“, explained Schmidt. For example, pharmacists would have to consult their clients regularly about the results of therapies and compare them with medications prescribed by various physicians. Such an extensive offer could not be free of charge.

Intensive counseling could also help to avoid errors due to self-medication. According to a nationwide survey in pharmacies, about every fifth self-medication is accompanied by unwanted side effects. The causes include incorrect dosage, too long a period of use of the drug and drug abuse. However, 90 percent of these cases were successfully clarified in the pharmacy.

Statistically, every German consumes about 1,200 individual drug units per year, as the pharmacist associations say. In 2012, an average of 14 medicines were prescribed by doctors for each person with statutory health insurance. For over-the-counter medicines, the Germans spent 3.6 billion euros.

Pharmacist associations demand more decision-making space for pharmacists
Over the past few years, pharmacists have increasingly been struggling with heteronomy and over-bureaucratization, Schmidt reports. Offers such as therapy support could also increase job satisfaction.

Another problem for pharmacists is the closure of the company. In the first half of the year, 150 pharmacies were affected. Since 2010, the number of pharmacists employed in public pharmacies has fallen by just under 300 to around 48,500. Pharmacists are affected in about 70 percent of the cases because they did not want to work for a standard 60-hour week for independent pharmacists, explained Schmidt. There is a massive youth problem, which makes it necessary to increase the number of study places.

„Despite the decline in the number of pharmacies, the pharmaceutical emergency has not broken out anywhere in Germany“, Schmidt is quoted in a press release of the Federal Association. „Anyone who propagates new forms of care, such as the 'video pharmacy' or the 'pharmacy bus', takes the people in the affected regions on the shoestring. There are no logistical but a 'humanitarian' problem in these regions. Old people who suffer from immobility and illness need somebody who knows their circumstances, speaks to them, keeps in touch with doctors and nurses. The closest pharmacy is the only reasonable answer to the problem of demographics and rural exodus.“ (Ag)

Picture: Marco Petig