Enhancing the Pharmacist's Professional Status through Collaborative Prescribing: US and Japanese Perspectives

Abstract

The objective of this mini-review is to examine collaborative prescribing between pharmacists and physicians as a means of enhancing the professional status of pharmacists. It considers the history of such collaboration, the current status of healthcare and the pharmacists' impact on patients' health, defines collaborative drug therapy management (CDTM), discusses the legal considerations in CDTM and the requirements for CDTM, and gives a Japanese perspective. We found that many pharmacists in the United States have concluded collaborative practice agreements with physicians under a written legal protocol regarding the selection, adoption and monitoring of new dosage forms and types of medications, management of routine follow-up with patients, and refill medications. Through collaborative drug therapy management, pharmacists can contribute to increasing compliance with drug therapy regimens and reducing the rate of adverse drug events.However, pharmacists in the United States and Japan face several obstacles in becoming fully successful in their efforts in these regards. Among them are gaining physicians' support and current regulations that prevent pharmacists from prescribing in many areas. In Japan, the prohibition of pharmacists having physical contact with the patients by law is another obstacle. These obstacles can be overcome by documenting the benefits for costs and clinical outcomes arising from allowing pharmacists to play a greater role in the medical literature.