A review of pharmaceutical care in community pharmacy in europe

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Mil and Schulz: a Review of PhaRMaceutical caRe

A Review of Pharmaceutical Care in Community Pharmacy in Europe
J. W. Foppe van Mil, PhD, Martin Schulz, PhD

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lthough a number of articles about pharmacy practices in European countries have been published, few reviews compare pharmacy and pharmaceutical care practices throughout Europe.1,2 In 2000 the status of pharmaceutical care in Europe was discussed in a Spanish journal,3 and in 2004 two other reviews were published.4,5 A series of articles on the development of pharmaceutical care and pharmacy practice in a number of countries is now being published in the Annals of Pharmacotherapy.6 But these articles describe one country at a time, and the series will only cover a limited number of European countries.7,8,9,10 There are several reasons why it is difficult to get a clear picture of pharmacy and pharmaceutical care practices in Europe. Although the European Union (EU) has now existed for many years, there has yet to be any harmonization in the field of primary health care even

though a number of recommendations have been made.11 As a result, there still are major differences in health care policies and practices among European countries. Furthermore, it is not very common to describe current practices or professional developments in pharmacy; most articles focus on commercial and professional threats to pharmacy or future challenges. It is somewhat easier to find articles describing research into small elements of pharmacy practice; but in most European countries even this research is not yet normal practice. There are many different pharmacy journals in Europe, but they are published in over forty different languages and many are not indexed in major international databases like Medline/Pubmed. In this literature review, we aim to describe contemporary European developments regarding the implementation of and research into pharmaceutical care, focusing on the community pharmacy. We will