1/ Today more than ever, how would you define the role of the pharmacist?
Thanks to our vision of the international situation, we observe converging trends that encourage us to take the pharmacist out of his pure and hard commercial role to lead him to take the place of a real health actor. In Canada, for example, pharmacists have had the right to prescribe for several years, and we feel that the general trend is moving in this direction. In France, the change in the pharmacist’s remuneration model has gone from a percentage on sales to dispensation, or to the act, depending on each person he receives. This invites us to rethink our role: we are now positioning ourselves as the handy health adviser and the pharmacy is becoming a real local health relay. In France, all pharmacies form a uniform network throughout the territory. This makes it possible to respond to the imbalance in the distribution of doctors who are absent from certain areas. The pharmacy therefore becomes the gateway to the global health system. Our mission is to support the pharmacist in a certain number of his commercial and health services activities, so that he can fully take on this new role.
2/ Can you tell us about the Pharmactiv network? What is its added value?
When a pharmacist joins the Pharmactiv network, he delegates part of his activities to us, in particular orders. We act as a purchasing center to relieve him, so he no longer needs to make an appointment with all the laboratories, which will free up time for reception and his activity within the pharmacy. And we do it in an optimal way: for example, we are connected with the media plans of the laboratories, we set up a categorical approach to parapharmacy products… In the pharmacies of the Pharmactiv network, you will find different corners: Health natural, Baby and young mother, Dermo-cosmetics… In addition, we organize screenings, prevention on the issue of tobacco, breast cancer, diabetes… We have also set up vaccination at the pharmacy – this is the case for the flu and we hope to be part of the loop for Covid-19 because pharmacists are health professionals on whom we will have to rely. All these actions are accompanied by training: it is the Pharmactiv campus that allows them to receive all the information necessary to know the drugs, the well-being products and to have a better knowledge of the diseases. Finally, we also provide them with a number of practical tools to make their daily lives easier: apps, digital media. As such, we can cite in particular the implementation of an app from the start of the first confinement: this app allows you to send your prescription to the pharmacy with your smartphone and to pick it up in click & connect. Another interesting example: that of medical equipment. With regard to home hospitalization, the pharmacist cannot have all the products in stock because they are far too bulky: we provide him with a precise catalog, laid out, which he will be able to share with his customers. before making the purchase. This kind of process benefits everyone: the customer is accompanied in his purchase by someone he can talk to orally, and the pharmacist can count on us for the order. Our mission is therefore to bring all the tools of modernity to these small traditional businesses. For the pharmacist, the tools that we provide, whether physical or immaterial such as training, allow him to free up more time for health actions. This makes it possible to develop attentiveness, privileged relationships with patients and to deliver personalized advice. In short, we provide him with the keys to fully take his place as a player in health.
3/ What is the social dimension of your know-how?
Across the entire network of 1,400 Pharmactiv pharmacies, there are an average of 300,000 patients per day. It’s still crowded! Allowing pharmacists to build real relationships with their patients, at our level, has a real impact on the way we treat ourselves today. We were the first to create closed confidential spaces for interviews with customers: being able to debrief your treatment with the pharmacist in an intimate space when you have a serious pathology is a real bonus that creates trust and show kindness. In the same way, we have set up systems that allow teleconsultation in pharmacies. Today, the pharmacist responds to customers about “little sores”: headaches, colds, cystitis… But when it is necessary to consult and there is no doctor available nearby, the patient can do it at the pharmacy. The territorial network of pharmacies responds to medical desertification. The pharmacist becomes the local health player who listens and who is trusted.
