New missions on patient support, management of drug shortages, involvement in vaccination, the role of community pharmacists is changing. A quick overview to announce the program “La Santé en Questions” dedicated to this profession and soon online on our YouTube channels.
- There are nearly 25,000 community pharmacists in France.
- Their role goes far beyond the delivery of medications and increasingly includes patient advice and support.
- The sector is currently having to manage a shortage of certain drugs.
There are nearly 25,000 of them in France and play a vital role in our country’s health system. And for community pharmacists, the health crisis of 2020 and 2021 had a major impact since they found themselves on the front line for the request for medicines and advice regarding treatments then for tests and finally for the campaign vaccination.
Patient support, drug shortages, pharmaceutical file
But daily life, although busy, is not always easy in this rapidly changing sector. Increasing competition between independent pharmacies and those grouped around brands which exploit the commercial codes of mass distribution, new missions of advice and support for patients, obligations in terms of pharmacovigilance and surveillance of possible medication errors, stock management in a context of shortage of certain medications and administrative and regulatory burdens such as those linked to the pharmaceutical file, the panorama of the community pharmacist has seriously evolved in recent years.
And as a bonus, directly linked to the points above, the financial pressure on this activity is further increased by the drop in the price of medicines through which Health Insurance is trying to limit the increase in health spending.
The aging of the population, a growth factor
So, what a sinecure it is to be a community pharmacist today? Significant growth factors exist for the years to come, particularly due to the aging of the population and the increase in chronic diseases which will require ever greater support from patients. And then developments in the French health system are moving in the direction of an even greater commitment from community pharmacists with the prescription and administration of vaccines, the delivery of prescription drugs for trivial ailments (angina and cystitis, for example), or participation in disease prevention and screening. Likewise, the development of coordinated practice in multidisciplinary healthcare homes, health centers or CPTS (territorial professional health communities) will continue to transform pharmacy practice.
The daily life of the community pharmacist
On the daily reality of community pharmacists today, on the way in which they try to manage drug shortages despite the implementation of a national plan to secure their supply, on what will be this profession tomorrow with, for example, the development of an e-commerce of medicines, the program “La Santé en Questions” soon online on our YouTube channels will provide testimonials, explanations and answers. Pierre-Olivier Variot, president of the USPO (Union of Community Pharmacists’ Unions) and Lysa Da Silva, president of the Association of Pharmacy Students of France, will answer questions from Dr. Jean-François Lemoine and Professor Jean-François Bergmann.
