The French would like to rely more on pharmacists, according to a survey. These professionals are ready to develop their profession.
On the occasion of the PharmagoraPlus show (1), Satispharma and Opinion Way have produced a unique photograph of the profession of pharmacist (2). As underlined by the academic sponsor of this study, Xavier Pavie, professor at ESSEC Business School, “we have the path to take to build the profession of the pharmacist of the 21st century and who will obviously be the priority health player. “. In any case, this is what the French seem to be asking for.
In their eyes, the pharmacist remains today the first resort for patient care. 96% of them believe that having a local pharmacy is essential, even if “43% of 18-24 year olds are ready to buy their medicines without a prescription on the Internet from approved French pharmacies”.
Act on compliance
And consumers are ready to go further in the relationship with this healthcare professional. If the proportion of observant patients leaves something to be desired, they are nonetheless open to a certain number of services provided by their pharmacist to educate them.
Almost all chronic patients trust it to help them take their treatment properly (99%). In addition, 2 out of 3 chronic patients would find it useful to have a 15-minute interview with their pharmacist as part of therapeutic adherence. The “non-observers are the most positive vis-à-vis this service”, specify the investigators.
An “under-exploited” professional
“We want to develop our profession in line with our patients and their daily concerns,” says Olivier Berthelemy, community pharmacist behind the project and founder of Satispharma. Contacted by Why actor, he said he was in favor of the pharmacist embarking on these missions aimed at improving patient compliance.
And the list of public expectations of pharmacists does not end there. 68% of them would find it useful, in the event of planned hospitalization, to have a fifteen-minute interview with their pharmacist to answer their questions and prepare for their return home. But above all, one in two patients is interested in entrusting their pharmacy with making appointments with other health professionals (general practitioners, nurses, specialists, etc.). It’s original.
Olivier Berthelemy, community pharmacist: ” the pharmacist is the most under-exploited healthcare professional in the care pathway…. “
The only ways to survive
For Xavier Pavie, the future of pharmacy is therefore “full of promise”. According to him, three assets are unquestionably conferred on the dispensary. “First of all the credibility that the French population rightly grants it, the experience that pharmacists have acquired over several decades in contact with everyone, and finally the proximity that they hold thanks to an incomparable network”.
The latter even goes so far as to conclude that in an increasingly complex environment, more and more competition, “the patient experience, quality of service, positioning and customer satisfaction are the keys to building its future; they are even probably the only ways of survival, ”he concludes.
The number of drugstore closures continues to increase throughout the territory, and in particular around the Massif Central, the Alps and Poitou-Charentes according to the demographic panorama 2015 of the National Order of Pharmacists. 1,000 pharmacies have thus closed in ten years.
(1) PharmagoraPlus, the meeting of pharmacists will be held from March 11 to 12, 2017, Porte de Versailles in Paris http://www.pharmagoraplus.com/
(2) The Avenir Pharmacie study (2) was carried out by Satispharma and Opinion Way on 4,043 patients, 521 pharmacists and 197 pharmacy teams (3) between January 20 and February 17, 2017.
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