ABSTRACT
Effective drug therapy requires three overlapping functions: initiation, which is prescribing based on medical problem assessment; professional supervision of therapy by the prescriber or a co-therapist (e.g., pharmacist, nurse, or physician’s assistant); and facilitation or actual administration of therapy, e.g., by the patient himself, a family caregiver, nurse, etc. (See Chapters 4 and 8.) This chapter describes the functions of a professional co-therapist in a pharmaceutical care system, namely, cooperation with facilitator (patient or caregiver) and initiator (e.g., physician) in supervising the progress of drug therapy. Nurses, physicians, and physician’s assistants all can function as co-therapists. However, pharmacists are the best educated in pharmacology, and therapeutics and are well placed in medications use processes. This is the pharmacist’s greatest potential contribution in a pharmaceutical care system, and it seems to us, most pharmacists’ brightest prospect for the future.
