Prospects for Improving the Efficiency and Accuracy of Pharmaceutical Preparations: The Perspective of Pharmaceutical Companies

There are approximately 60000 pharmacies in Japan. Effective utilization of this resource is a critical national public health issue. With the advent of work style reforms for physicians, pharmacists have a substantial scope to undertake initiatives to improve health literacy. However, if this is simply an extension of the current operations of pharmacies, significant added value cannot be expected. Instead, it is important to envision a future in which pharmacies function as community health stations, contributing to the health literacy of large numbers of people. To ensure that pharmacists have the necessary interpersonal resources, the government has announced policies aimed at streamlining dispensing operations, including outsourcing some of the preparation work involved in dispensing operations, introducing dispensing equipment, dispensing prescription-packaged medicines, and having non-pharmacists assist and support dispensing operations under pharmacist supervision. Considering the near-future vision of pharmacies and pharmacists from a backcasting perspective rather than a forecasting perspective is likely to lead to better outcomes in future.