The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 273 No 7329 p852
11 December 2004

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· New contract (5)
· PPRS
· Registration exam (4)
· Prescription forms
· Community pharmacy
· Male health
· Competency
· Public health
· Alcohol
· Levithyroxine
· Complementary medicine
· The register (3)
· Retention fee
· The Journal (2)

Letters to the Editor

Competency

Should be looking out, not in

From D. J. Fallon, MRPharmS

The cover of the The Journal (27 November) poses the question “What makes pharmacists competent?” This is the question being asked by the Government (in my opinion the public do not find this an issue), but the question pharmacists would like answering is “what makes leaders competent?”

By heavily investing in training schemes our leaders try to persuade the Government that this will result in a better quality service but I suspect this will really lead to a generation of pharmacists who are either exceptionally stressed or manage to provide an illusion of competency.

It does not matter how much you know, the rate-limiting step is the time to pass the knowledge on, and from my experience in quizzing patients this is the problem among health care professionals.

I am shocked at the ignorance of patients, and this should be our primary focus. We should be looking out, instead of in, and articles about the competency of pharmacists should not fail to consider the real issues that should be tackled, namely issues of time and stress, although from an ivory tower these points may seem less important.

Dennis Fallon
Birmingham

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