MEDIA RELEASE
18 December 2008
Study confirms you can trust the advice of your community pharmacist
A recent study comparing community pharmacies to “health stores” has
shown community pharmacies to be a far superior source of reliable
health advice.
Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand Chief Executive Annabel Young says that
the results of the study are common sense. “Community pharmacists are
highly trained health professionals. They complete a four year
university degree and a year of practical training before they are able
to seek professional registration.”
“Pharmacists are the shop-front for the health system and you can trust
their professional advice. This is especially important over the
holidays when people are away from their regular health providers but
they know that they can walk in off the street and get good advice from
a community pharmacist.”
“Pharmacists are not only medicines experts but they are skilled in
recognising and treating minor health conditions and assessing whether a
patient needs to see a doctor for a more serious health matter.”
The study was conducted by sending a customer with symptoms of
uncontrolled asthma to 25 pharmacies and 25 “health stores” seeking
advice. The pharmacies consistently provided the correct advice, in
this case referral to a doctor, whereas “health stores” did not and in
some cases gave advice that could cause serious harm to the customer.
The researcher who led the study, Dr Shaun Holt, told TV One Breakfast
that people should “definitely go to the pharmacy for medical advice”.
ENDS