Health-related quality of life measurement in pharmaceutical care. Targeting an outcome that matters.

The shift in emphasis of healthcare from dealing only with disease and death to also managing illness, meant that healthcare providers started to realise the importance of assessing the quality of the patient's life as a new therapeutic outcome. This is equally true in the evolving concept of pharmaceutical care, the ultimate target of which is improving the patient's quality of life (QoL) through a cooperative alliance between the pharmacist and the patient. This article discusses the place of QoL assessment in today's healthcare environment, with special emphasis on its use in the practice of pharmaceutical care.