Validation instruments for health promotion in the community pharmacy setting

Abstract

The developments during the past fifty years have resulted in a complete shift in the role of the community pharmacist from that of mainly compounding of medicines to becoming an advisor on health-related issues (Schaefer, 1998). This shift resulted in highlighting the intervention of the pharmacist as the initial contact point for the provision of primary health care. An initiative undertaken in the United Kingdom in 1995, 'Pharmacy in a New Age', identified health promotion as one of the areas that community pharmacists should focus more on (Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, 1996). In this day and age of cost containment. evidence-based practice is required to confirm the provision of professional services, including the provision of health promotion (Rupp, 1997). This prompted the development of the Validation Method for Community Pharmacy, which is a process carried out to confirm the effectiveness of the pharmacist in the community setting (Azzopardi, 2000).