Iguchi S, Ohnishi M, Nishiyama T, Hosono K, Umezawa C
Center for Clinical Pharmacy Research and Education, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kobe Gakuin University, Japan.
J Clin Pharm Ther. 1998 Jun;23(3):223-7. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2710.1998.00155.x.
To survey the present condition of community pharmacies as future sites for pharmacy students' externship in Japan.
A questionnaire consisting of 55 questions was sent to 425 graduates from Kobe Gakuin University, School of Pharmacy, who owned or worked in community pharmacies.
Of the 85 responders, about half were owners and half employees of pharmacies. Ninety per cent of pharmacy owners operated three and fewer pharmacies. Fifty per cent of pharmacies only dispensed drugs, 32% handled both OTC drugs and dispensing, and 18% handled only OTC drugs. Among the 44 dispensing pharmacies, 16 were one-to-one type pharmacies, 13 were located in front of the big medical institutions, nine dispensed prescriptions from various medical institutions and five were hospital-owned pharmacies. Forty-five per cent of pharmacies employed 1-4 part-time pharmacists and 52% employed 1-4 pharmacist assistants. Thirty-one per cent of prescriptions came from internal medicine departments and the daily number of prescriptions dispensed by each pharmacy was in the range 10-99 for 41% of the pharmacies and 100-199 for 36% of the pharmacies. The average daily number of prescriptions dispersed by each pharmacist was in the range 30-39 for 29% of pharmacies and in the range 20-29 for 22% of pharmacies. Pharmaceutical information was provided at 73% of pharmacies and patients were counselled orally on their medication at 80% of pharmacies. Patients' medication histories were recorded at 88% pharmacies. Only 15% of pharmacies conducted patients' medication counselling at their home, but 34% of pharmacies were planning to start this service. Community pharmacists attended very few professional meetings or continuing education programmes and only 20% of them obtained information through computers. Forty-seven pharmacists out of the 85 obtained their information from medical representatives of pharmaceutical companies and 32 pharmacists through marketing specialists of wholesalers. Ninety per cent of community pharmacists who responded thought that separation of prescribing and dispensing functions would progress further in the future and 50% of them thought positively about the future social status of pharmacists. Most of our graduates who responded were willing to accept pharmacy students from Kobe Gakuin University as externs at their pharmacies.
Despite the low response rate, our survey suggests that community pharmacy in Japan requires substantial improvement. This is to ensure that pharmacists working in that sector can provide the quality information that is required for the optimum management of patients and that the environment is suitable for pharmacy externships.
调查日本社区药房作为药学专业学生未来实习地点的现状。
向神户学院大学药学院425名拥有或就职于社区药房的毕业生发放了一份包含55个问题的调查问卷。
在85名回复者中，约一半是药房所有者，一半是员工。90%的药房所有者经营3家及以下药房。50%的药房仅调配药品，32%既经营非处方药又进行调配，18%只经营非处方药。在44家调配药房中，16家是一对一型药房，13家位于大型医疗机构门前，9家调配来自各类医疗机构的处方，5家是医院所属药房。45%的药房雇佣1 - 4名兼职药剂师，52%雇佣1 - 4名药剂师助理。31%的处方来自内科，各药房每日调配处方数量在10 - 99之间的占41%，在100 - 199之间的占36%。每位药剂师每日平均调配处方数量在30 - 39之间的药房占29%，在20 - 29之间的占22%。73%的药房提供药学信息，80%的药房对患者进行用药口头咨询。88%的药房记录患者用药史。只有15%的药房为患者提供上门用药咨询，但34%的药房计划开展此项服务。社区药剂师很少参加专业会议或继续教育项目，只有20%通过计算机获取信息。85名药剂师中有47名从制药公司的医药代表处获取信息，32名通过批发商的市场专员获取信息。90%回复的社区药剂师认为未来处方权与调配权分离将进一步发展，50%对药剂师未来的社会地位持积极态度。大多数回复的毕业生愿意接收神户学院大学的药学专业学生到他们的药房实习。
尽管回复率较低，但我们的调查表明日本社区药房需要大幅改进。这是为了确保在该领域工作的药剂师能够提供患者最佳管理所需的高质量信息，并且确保环境适合药学实习。
