الملخص
The role of pharmacist in patient counseling is well defined.
However, the extent of provision of this service is the one which
varies within and between practicing sites. The service is
demanded by patients, government, pharmacy profession and
in a few countries legislation was released in response to this
demand. Unfortunately many of the advancement in pharmacy
practice in the hospitals have not been transferred to the
community pharmacies. Patient counseling is one of several
pharmaceutical services provided in hospitals and the main
function for the pharmacists in community pharmacy. Ambulatory pharmacy is the new setting under which patient counseling
is offered to all patients in the hospital.
The role of the pharmacist in patient counseling is confronted
with several legal, cognitive, attitudinal and situational barriers.
The barriers are well recognized and considered as real problems
with logical explanations and relatively simple solutions. We need
to maintain our mission initially by solving the pharmacist-related
barriers. If we managed to create the competent pharmacist who
cares for the patients, the rest of the barriers will be easier to
tackle. This paper will address the subject in more detail in the full
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