COMMUNITY PHARMACY AND MANAGEMENT – THEORY
Course Code: ER20-22T
75 Hours (3 Hours/week)
Scope: The course is designed to impart basic knowledge and skills to provide various pharmaceutical care services to patients and general practitioners in the community setup.
Course Objectives: This course will discuss the following:
Establishing and running a community pharmacy and its legal requirements
Professional aspects of handling and filling prescriptions
Patient counselling on diseases, prescription and or non-prescription medicines
Scope for performing basic health screening in community pharmacy settings
Course Outcomes: Upon successful completion of this course, the students will be able to
Describe the establishment, legal requirements, and effective administration of a community pharmacy
Professionally handle prescriptions and dispense medications
Counsel patients about the disease, prescription and or non-prescription medicines
Perform basic health screening on patients and interpret the reports in the community pharmacy settings
CHAPTER 1 (2 HOURS)
Community Pharmacy Practice-Definition, history and development of community pharmacy - International and Indian scenarios
CHAPTER 2 (3 HOURS)
Professional responsibilities of community pharmacists
Introduction to the concept of Good Pharmacy Practice and SOPs.
CHAPTER 3 (7 HOURS)
Prescription and prescription handling
Definition, parts of prescriptions, legality of prescriptions, prescription handling, labeling of dispensed medications (Main label, ancillary label, pictograms), brief instructions on medication usage
Dispensing process, Good Dispensing Practices, dispensing errors and strategies to minimize them
CHAPTER 4 (6 HOURS)
Communication skills
Definition, types of communication skills
Interactions with professionals and patients
Verbal communication skills (one-to-one, over the telephone)
Written communication skills
Body language
Patient interview techniques
CHAPTER 5 (10 HOURS)
Patient counselling
Definition and benefits of patient counselling
Stages of patient counselling - Introduction, counselling content, counselling process, and closing the counselling session
Barriers to effective counseling - Types and strategies to overcome the barriers
Patient counselling points for chronic diseases/disorders - Hypertension, Diabetes, Asthma, Tuberculosis, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and AIDS
Patient Package Inserts - Definition, i mportance and benefits, Scenarios of PPI use in India and other countries
Patient Information leaflets - Definition and uses
CHAPTER 6 (2 HOURS)
Medication Adherence
Definition, factors influencing non- adherence, strategies to overcome non-adherence
CHAPTER 7 (5 HOURS)
Health Screening Services in Community Pharmacy
Introduction, scope, and importance of various health screening services - for routine monitoring of patients, early detection, and referral of non-diagnosed cases
CHAPTER 8 (15 HOURS)
Over The Counter (OTC) Medications
Definition, need and role of Pharmacists in OTC medication dispensing
OTC medications in India, counseling for OTC products
Self-medication and role of pharmacists in promoting the safe practices during self-medication
Responding to symptoms, minor ailments, and advice for self-care in conditions such as - Pain management, Cough, Cold, Diarrhea, Constipation, Vomiting, Fever, Sore throat, Skin disorders, Oral health (mouth ulcers, dental pain, gum swelling)
CHAPTER 9 (25 HOURS)
Community Pharmacy Management
Legal requirements to set up a community pharmacy
Site selection requirements
Pharmacy designs and interiors
Vendor selection and ordering
Procurement, inventory control methods, and inventory management
Financial planning and management
Accountancy in community pharmacy – Day book, Cash book
Introduction to pharmacy operation softwares – usefulness and availability
Customer Relation Management (CRM)
Audits in Pharmacies
SOP of Pharmacy Management
Introduction to Digital Health, mHealth and Online pharmacies
NOTE: In the Subject "Community Pharmacy and Management-Theory", the ER-2020 Syllabus version issued by PCI on 23/09/2021, only 9 Chapters are issued. Chapter No. 8 is missing, PCI may rectify in the next version.