1 minute read
National News
The Netherlands
The view on community pharmacists in the Netherlands, in an age of health digitalisation, and what to do about it.
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In the Netherlands, research has been conducted in the way the community pharmacist is perceived by patients. The ministry of Health has asked two research institutes (Nivel en SIR Institute for Pharmacy Practice and Policy) to conduct research on this topic. They found that Dutch patients perceive the community pharmacist as a medication specialist, but not necessarily as a first point of contact for questions related to drug usage This provides community pharmacists with an opportunity to become seen as such. This finding is in line with other pharmaceutical trends in the Netherlands. The role of the community pharmacist is changing. The digitalisation of health with its new technologies and online pharmacies shift the playground, and the community pharmacist is forced to adapt. Simply providing basic information about medication seems to no longer be enough. In times when you can watch Netflix on demand and get your groceries delivered by Gorillas within 15 minutes, convenience has become the status quo Why bother coming to the pharmacy to pick up your medication and wait in line, while you could also let it be delivered to your front door? To convince patients to still come to the pharmacy, the pharmacist has to show its surplus value. And that’s where the patient’s perception of the pharmacist comes in.
