Important notices from the State Drug Administration affect all practicing pharmacists

On November 24th, the State Drug Administration officially issued the Notice on Regulating the Use of Practicing Pharmacists in Drug Retail Enterprises (hereinafter referred to as the Notice), which came into effect on January 1, 2021.
The Notice makes it clear that, in view of the fact that there are not enough practicing pharmacists and difficult to equip in some areas at present, the provincial drug regulatory departments may, without reducing the overall proportion of existing practicing pharmacists, formulate policies for the implementation of differentiated use of licensed pharmacists and set up a transition period.
the transition period, pharmaceutical retail enterprises are allowed to equip other pharmaceutical technicians to assume the duties of practicing pharmacists in areas where there is a significant gap in practicing pharmacists, and the transition period does not exceed 2025.
It is understood that the pharmaceutical business field in accordance with the law qualified pharmacists refers to practicing pharmacists, other pharmaceutical technical personnel including health (pharmacists), pharmacists, competent pharmacists, deputy director pharmacists, chief pharmacists, etc.
industry say this is another transitional policy to alleviate the shortage of stage-stage practicing pharmacists.
Li Sibo, a practicing pharmacist at Liaoxi Pharmaceutical Chain Co., Ltd., pointed out to Saibailan that the State Drug Administration has proposed differentiated equipment for practicing pharmacists, according to the number of practicing pharmacists in different regions, in order to alleviate the actual situation in areas where there are obvious gaps between practicing pharmacists, this policy is beneficial to encourage the development of retail pharmacies.
The multi-policy practicing pharmacists requiring practicing pharmacists to be equipped include: responsible for the examination and supervision of prescriptions and deployment; providing customers with pharmaceutical services such as drug advice, drug guidance, feedback on adverse drug reactions; establishing health files for chronically ill patients who have purchased drugs for a long time to guide their rational drug use; publicity of safe drug use and rational drug use knowledge; and urging employees to implement drug management laws and regulations and related norms to ensure that quality management personnel perform their duties effectively.
Based on the important role of practicing pharmacists, several policies emphasize the staffing of practicing pharmacists: from the above provisions, it can be seen that practicing pharmacists at least from the point of view of policy norms, for the opening of pharmacies, pharmacies to obtain medical insurance fixed-point qualifications, as well as pharmacy daily practice norms are irreplaceable significance.
is not short of practicing pharmacists in the end, but at this stage in addition to this notice, as a transitional response to the shortage of practicing pharmacists, there are remote review, pharmacist robots and so on.
According to the incomplete statistics of SaibaiLan-Pharmacy Managers, more than 20 provinces and cities in Gansu, Xinjiang, Shaanxi, Heilongjiang, Hebei, Guizhou, Chongqing, Sichuan, Hunan, Hainan, Shanxi, Shandong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Yunnan, Jilin, Guangxi and other provinces and cities have piloted remote medicines in retail pharmacies.
is the number of practicing pharmacists at the moment? Data from the National Drug Administration's Center for the Qualification of Practicing Pharmacists show that as of the end of October 2020, more than 1.16 million people had passed the qualification examination for practicing pharmacists nationwide, and the number of registered practicing pharmacists was more than 560,000 - of which more than 510,000 were registered in pharmaceutical retail enterprises, accounting for 90.9% of the total number of registered pharmacists.
390,000 pharmaceutical retail enterprises, accounting for 74.4% of the total number of pharmaceutical retail enterprises, about 70% of the practicing pharmacists are located in urban areas.
overall, the number of practicing pharmacists per 10,000 population in China is 4.0, which has reached the target of 4 pharmacists per 10,000 population in the 13th Five-Year Plan for Drug Safety.
However, on the supply of practicing pharmacists, Li Sibo also pointed out to Saibailan, specifically to various regions, some economically developed areas, may be large, for remote areas may also be understred.
but every year a large number of people get a practising pharmacist, indicating that there is still a market for practicing pharmacists.
from the Notice of the State Drug Administration clearly in 2025, by 2025 at the latest, the country's retail pharmacies are expected to be fully equipped with licensed pharmacists.
addition, the notice issued by the State Drug Administration also pointed out that for drug retail enterprises that are not equipped according to regulations and are not in place for rectification, they should be investigated and punished in accordance with the law, and take administrative measures such as suspending the sale of prescription drugs.
To check the "registered" practicing pharmacists to enter the national registered pharmacist management information system, revoke their registration certificate and resolutely expose;
this, Li Sibo pointed out that with the country's rectification and regulation, the staffing of practicing pharmacists will become more and more formal.
How to really play the value of practicing pharmacists has the industry to say to Cypress Blue, in fact, from an absolute number, it seems that the number of practicing pharmacists can be satisfied, even from the retail enterprises equipped with practicing pharmacists, the shortage of practicing pharmacists is not so serious, but compared to the formal staffing, the main problem of the current practice pharmacists in the profession is due to salary is not up to expectations, it is difficult to really play professional value and other reasons, the number of practicing pharmacists on the job is really low.
With a little observation, we can see that although the relevant departments for practicing pharmacists' registration have been in a state of strict inspection and regulation, it is not uncommon for practicing pharmacists to be certified nationwide, that is to say, how the real situation of practicing pharmacists on duty is worth thinking about.
The above-mentioned people pointed out that in order to truly realize the full staffing of practicing pharmacists and ensure that practicing pharmacists provide pharmaceutical services on the job, in addition to policy enforcement and corresponding punishment measures, we also need to start from the salary and employment environment, social recognition and other aspects to really improve the willingness of practicing pharmacists to serve in the shop, so as to truly play the value of practicing pharmacists.
, whether from the intensity of work or from the level of legal liability, the relevant aspects of the requirements for practicing pharmacists is still very high.
Li Sibo also said that to truly play the value of practicing pharmacists, we also need to solve two problems: first, the value of practicing pharmacists themselves, such as the improvement of knowledge and business ability;
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