The pharmacist in Malta professional practice, education and aspirations

Abstract

Ever since the establishment of the School of Pharmacy at the Holy Infirmary in 1676 the pharmacy profession in Malta and world wide has mutated in a number of ways. The pharmacy course has evolved from being a 2 year diploma course to a 4 years Honours degree as Bachelor of Pharmacy. The profession has been redirected from a drug oriented to a patient oriented one. These, together with many other changes have made' the pharmacist an integral and indispensible member of the Health Care Team (Cassar P.1964) (Mintoff L. 1979). Throughout the centuries the one factor that has remained constant is that the pharmacist is the only expert on drugs whatever his area of practice (Gibson M. R. 1985). The pharmacist in Malta is well integrated at all strata of society all over the island, thus being in an ideal position to reach out to the community, offering a number of invaluable services whilst also assuming the role of health educator. The global aim of this project was to evaluate the pharmacists' situation on the island, their input to society and to identify any professional needs they may have to provide a better service, thus enabling them to be better professionals.