Advances in Pharmaceutical Care

Dear Colleagues,

In 1990, Hepler and Strand defined pharmaceutical care as “the responsible provision of drug therapy for the purpose of achieving definite outcomes that improve a patient’s quality of life.’’[1] In the intervening three decades, there has been considerable controversy about both this definition and the relationship of pharmaceutical care to other concepts such as medicines management and medication therapy management services. However, this debate is arguably a distraction; the general philosophy of patient-centred care provision by the pharmacy profession has widespread support and has led to numerous valuable initiatives.

The aim of this Special Issue is to present readers with current and potential pharmaceutical care practices, focusing in particular on aspects that have emerged or evolved over time. Examples may include, but are not limited to, new approaches that have become possible with advances in technology, the refinement of older pharmaceutical care strategies to optimize outcomes or minimize obstacles, the tailoring and targeting of pharmaceutical care, initiatives that have been prompted by the use of new medicines, the integration of pharmaceutical care into collaborative healthcare, and advances in the teaching of pharmaceutical care skills.

Manuscripts of all types are welcome, including reviews, commentaries, case studies, and research studies.

Pharmacy (ISSN 2226-4787) is an international, scientific, open-access journal on pharmacy education and practice published quarterly online by MDPI. The journal has already been indexed by PubMed, ESCI (Emerging Sources Citation Index), and Web of Science. Furthermore, Pharmacy is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and, accordingly, submissions are peer reviewed rigorously to ensure that they conform to the highest standards in their field.

If the Special Issue contains more than 10 papers, the publishers will print a book edition, which will be made available in digital (open-access) and paperback format (ordered via Amazon) on the MDPI website, http://books.mdpi.com.

Hopefully, this will be a platform for sharing good practice in pharmaceutical care and learning from one another’s experiences.

1. Hepler CD, Strand LM. Opportunities and responsibilities in pharmaceutical care. Am J Hosp Pharm. 1990; 47:533–543.

Assoc. Prof. Sheila A. Ryder
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pharmacy is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Pharmaceutical care
• Patient-centred care
• Pharmacist care
• Medicines management
• Medication therapy management services