Enough practicing pharmacists in the country?

On September 15, the National Drug Administration's Center for the Qualification of Practicing Pharmacists announced that as of the end of August 2020, the number of registered practicing pharmacists nationwide was 556,326, and the number of practicing pharmacists per 10,000 population was 4, meeting the target of 4 pharmacists per 10,000 population in the 13th Five-Year Plan for Drug Safety.
although the target of 4 pharmacists per 10,000 population has been met, it is not enough to meet the requirement that all retail pharmacies have licensed pharmacists to guide rational drug use when they are open.
also pointed out that there are currently 505,147 licensed pharmacists registered in pharmaceutical retail enterprises, accounting for 90.8 per cent of the total number of registrations.
, however, by the end of 2019, there were 544,000 licensed pharmaceutical licensing enterprises in China, including 6,701 retail chains, 290,000 retail chain stores and 234,000 retail pharmacies.
relative to this data, currently registered in retail pharmacies of licensed pharmacists, the average one store staffing can not do.
to know that a normal business pharmacy, to meet the business hours of a practicing pharmacist to guide the rational use of drugs, need to be equipped with at least 2 people.
enough people to practice, but unwilling to practise does this logic mean that retail pharmacies need nearly a million practicing pharmacists? "In fact, more than 1.16 million people have qualified as practicing pharmacists.
" Kang Zhen, a visiting professor at the School of Basic Medicine and Clinical Pharmacy at China Pharmaceutical University and deputy director of the National Center for the Development of Practicing Pharmacists, told pharmacy managers today, "Although the number is sufficient, but not willing to practice, it requires the industry to think about why this is the case."
" in the "third DTP Conference" organized by Seber Blue, there are experts pointed out that compared with the United States, Japan, China's average number of shops service is 2854 people / store, the average daily sales of 2241 yuan / store (2018 data), there is a serious overcapacity, the general pharmacy profit is very weak, or even loss-making operation.
in this mode, it is very unlikely that all pharmacies will be equipped with 2 practicing pharmacists.
now that there are enough practicing pharmacists and a surplus of pharmacies, how can it be matched? In the author's opinion, the target requirement of more than 4 practicing pharmacists per 10,000 population of the "13th Five-Year Plan" drug plan is reasonable.
Now that the target has been reached, the number of licensed pharmacists registered in retail pharmacies has exceeded 500,000, and if the average number of practicing pharmacists per pharmacy is 2, we only need about 250,000 pharmacies in our country.
in other words, half of the pharmacies are enough.
professionalism is insufficient, the situation is awkward from another point of view, "13th Five-Year Plan" drug planning should be no problem, if equipped according to this number, the treatment of practicing pharmacists and all aspects or more secure.
but the number of pharmacies is more, if still in accordance with GSP requirements, it is likely that pharmacies more practicing pharmacists.
is a very real problem, now the pharmaceutical retail enterprises can not support high labor costs, the more practicing pharmacists will only pull down the level, after all, more porridge less, not good score.
, however, is the case.
the state is encouraging enterprises to have practicing pharmacists, enterprises are also encouraging employees to test practicing pharmacists, although more and more people have obtained practicing pharmacists, but the actual situation and treatment of ordinary employees are similar.
"the problem is in the GSP certification system."
Kang Zhen told the author, "Pharmacy positioning is retail rather than community health care supporting needs, this is hindering the development of practicing pharmacists the biggest problem;
" The quality of professional services needs to be established under the professional management system rather than under the product management, in order to pay attention to the disease treatment from prescription to drug use in all aspects of the risk of drug errors, so that patients to achieve drug safety, only need pharmacists for patients with chronic disease follow-up assessment and control of drug problems, improve the effectiveness of patients.
these are all missing GSPs.
" he further explained, "international pharmacies are GPP-oriented, emphasizing the pharmacist service code of conduct rather than the quality of the drug, because the quality of the drug is a necessary condition of the code of conduct."
" small and medium-sized city pharmacies, practicing pharmacists lack of a pharmaceutical enterprise marketing general manager told the author that the current distribution of practicing pharmacists in China is strictly uneven, large cities saturated, small and medium-sized cities lack, county and county pharmacies below the gap between practicing pharmacists is large.
the current situation, in response to this problem, the State has taken the measure of replacing practicing pharmacists with remote medicines.
according to the recent draft opinion, the State Drug Administration requires that, without reducing the proportion of the existing overall staffing, different equipment policies can be formulated in various places, a transition period of 5 years.
Among them, Yunnan, Shandong and other places are clear, even through remote medicine, the main urban pharmacy must be equipped with a practicing pharmacist in accordance with the requirements, remote areas and rural pharmacies can be other pharmaceutical technicians to assume the duties of practicing pharmacists.
, however, the problem is that it occurs in these remote areas and in rural pharmacies.
the average salary of practicing pharmacists in Beijing and Shanghai has exceeded 7000 yuan/month, while the average salary of practicing pharmacists in remote cities such as northwest and southwest China is less than 3000 yuan/month, according to the data.
are still difficult to equip local pharmacists because they can't keep up with treatment issues.
pharmacies are in transition, professional ability to keep up with the previous we also talked about, the number of domestic pharmacy practitioners is not insufficient, but pharmacies have serious overcapacity.
, even if given another five years, the number of pharmacies remains high and the overall treatment of licensed pharmacists may not improve.
From a policy and market-oriented point of view, pharmacies are currently transitioning to two aspects: first, to large health types, to Class B OTC, nutritional health care products, cosmetics, etc. , no medical insurance qualifications, no need to be equipped with a practicing pharmacist;
if the transition is successful, there will be only 250,000 specialist pharmacies in the country, each of which will have at least two practicing pharmacists.
the same time, according to the Interim Measures for the Administration of Basic Medical Insurance Drugs, the payment of medical insurance medications shall be subject to examination by pharmacists or practicing pharmacists in accordance with the prescribed procedures.
supported by health insurance, needless to say, if you practice in such pharmacies, you can imagine that the corresponding treatment will not be too poor.
what existing practicing pharmacists need to do is try to improve their professional skills.
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