Airaksinen Marja, Toivo Terhi, Jokinen Lenita, Savela Eeva, Parkkamäki Stina, Sandler Charlotta, Kalliomäki Hanna, Dimitrow Maarit
MSc(Pharm), PhD. Professor, Head of Clinical Pharmacy Group. Division of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki. Helsinki (Finland).
MSc(Pharm), PhD. Medication Safety Officer. Tampere University Hospital. Tampere (Finland).
Pharm Pract (Granada). 2021 Jan-Mar;19(1):2288. doi: 10.18549/PharmPract.2021.1.2288. Epub 2021 Feb 4.
Finland's community pharmacy system provides an example of a privately-owned regulated system being proactively developed by the profession and its stakeholders. Community pharmacists have a legal duty to promote safe and rational medicine use in outpatient care. The development of professionally oriented practice has been nationally coordinated since the 1990s with the support of a national steering group consisting of professional bodies, authorities, pharmacy schools and continuing education centers. The primary focus has been in patient counseling services and public health programs. The services have extended towards prospective medication risk management applying evidence-based tools, databases and digitalization. Research has been essential in informing progress by indicating high-risk patients, medications, practices and processes needing improvement. Despite the commitment of the profession and pharmacy owners, large-scale implementation of services has been challenging because of lack of remuneration, the pharmacy income still consisting primarily of sale of prescription and nonprescription medicines. Policy documents by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health have supported the extension of the community pharmacists' role beyond traditional dispensing to promote rational pharmacotherapy. The current roadmap by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health emphasizes ensuring adequate regional availability and accessibility of medicines, regardless of the future pharmacy system. It also emphasizes the importance of strong regulation on pharmacy business operations and sale of medicines to ensure medication safety. At the same time, the roadmap requires that the regulation must enable implementation of new patient-oriented services and procedures, and further promote digitalization in service provision. Competition and balance of funding should be enhanced, e.g., through price competition, but the risk of pharmaceutical market concentration should be managed. The regulation should also consider influence of the new social and health care system on drug delivery. Year 2021 will be crucial for making long-term political decisions on the future direction of tasks and finances of Finnish community pharmacies in this framework. Government-funded studies are underway to guide decision making. Ongoing Covid-19 crisis has demonstrated the readiness of Finnish community pharmacies to adapt fast to meet the changing societal needs.
芬兰的社区药房系统是一个由行业及其利益相关者积极推动发展的私营监管系统的范例。社区药剂师有法律义务在门诊护理中促进安全合理用药。自20世纪90年代以来，在由专业团体、当局、药学院和继续教育中心组成的国家指导小组的支持下，以专业为导向的实践发展在全国范围内得到了协调。主要重点一直放在患者咨询服务和公共卫生项目上。这些服务已经扩展到应用循证工具、数据库和数字化的前瞻性药物风险管理。研究对于通过指出需要改进的高风险患者、药物、实践和流程来为进展提供信息至关重要。尽管行业和药房所有者做出了努力，但由于缺乏报酬，服务的大规模实施一直具有挑战性，药房收入仍主要来自处方药和非处方药的销售。社会事务和卫生部的政策文件支持将社区药剂师的角色从传统配药扩展到促进合理药物治疗。社会事务和卫生部目前的路线图强调，无论未来的药房系统如何，都要确保药品在各地区有足够的供应和可及性。它还强调了对药房业务运营和药品销售进行严格监管以确保用药安全的重要性。同时，路线图要求监管必须能够实施新的以患者为导向的服务和程序，并进一步促进服务提供中的数字化。应加强竞争和资金平衡，例如通过价格竞争，但应管理药品市场集中的风险。监管还应考虑新的社会和医疗保健系统对药品配送的影响。2021年对于在此框架内就芬兰社区药房未来任务和财务的方向做出长期政治决策至关重要。政府资助的研究正在进行中，以指导决策。持续的新冠疫情危机表明，芬兰社区药房已做好快速适应以满足不断变化的社会需求的准备。
