The Novel Image of Pharmacist of a Super-aged Society in Japan

Abstract

The percentage of the population over age 65 in Japan was greater than 23% in 2010. Therefore, Japan is the world's first "super-aged society", and our country needs a new regional health care system. Our medical systems face many challenges, such as this increase in elderly population with chronic diseases, maintenance of universal health insurance and free access to hospitals, and expensive health care costs. It is not easy to change the current health care system without a sufficient number of doctors. On the other hand, Japan's curriculum in pharmaceutical education has been expanded to six years to establish a new profession of pharmacist. Rapid progress in the market of pharmacies in accepting prescriptions since 1974 has caused pharmacists to primarily act as "technicians". But this is not the best way to solve the serious problems of Japanese medical systems. I want to present the image of a next-generation pharmacist (Pharmacist 3.0), to be involved in the idea of collaborative drug therapy management (CDTM) in this article. The total optimization of our medical supply system with all medical and pharmaceutical specialists is necessary in Japan.