Collaborative Practice: The Role of Research and Education in Shaping Modern Pharmacy Practice

A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032). This special issue belongs to the section "Medication Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 1447

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Collegium Medicum, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, 01-938 Warsaw, Poland
Interests: pharmaceutical care; adherence; pictograms; communication; medicine safety
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor Assistant
1. Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine Osijek, University Josip Juraj Strossmayer Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
2. Pharmacy Bjelovar, Petra Preradovića 4, 43000 Bjelovar, Croatia
Interests: pharmacy practice research; drug therapy problems; pictograms; adherence

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Pharmaceutical practice is rapidly evolving from a traditional dispensing role to a more collaborative, patient-centered model. This Special Issue of Healthcare, titled "Collaborative Practice: The Role of Research and Education in Shaping Modern Pharmacy Practice", highlights the importance of interdisciplinary teamwork, rigorous research, and innovative education in shaping modern pharmacy. From interdisciplinary teamwork to evidence-based decision making, these elements are essential for improving patient care and strengthening the role of pharmacists in modern healthcare systems.

This Special Issue aims to explore how research and educational advancements drive improvements in pharmaceutical services, ultimately enhancing patient care and health system outcomes. We welcome original research articles and reviews covering topics including the following:

  • How interdisciplinary collaboration enhances pharmaceutical services;
  • The impact of pharmaceutical education on patient care and healthcare systems;
  • Research-driven innovations in pharmaceutical practice;
  • Policy and regulatory perspectives on collaborative pharmaceutical models;
  • The role of digital technologies in pharmacist-led education and healthcare.

We warmly invite researchers, educators, and healthcare professionals to contribute original research articles or review papers to this Special Issue, containing insights which will help define the future of pharmaceutical practice. We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Piotr Merks
Guest Editor

Dr. Katarina Fehir Šola
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • collaborative pharmaceutical practice
  • interdisciplinary healthcare
  • pharmacy education
  • evidence-based pharmacy
  • pharmaceutical research
  • clinical pharmacy services
  • healthcare innovation
  • pharmaceutical policy and regulation
  • digital health in pharmacy
  • pharmacists’ professional development

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Review

37 pages, 406 KiB  
Review
Self-Medication as a Global Health Concern: Overview of Practices and Associated Factors—A Narrative Review
by Vedrana Aljinović-Vučić
Healthcare 2025, 13(15), 1872; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13151872 - 31 Jul 2025
Viewed by 716
Abstract
Self-medication is a subject of global importance. If practiced responsibly, self-medication represents a part of self-care or positive care of an individual or a community in promoting their own health. However, today’s practices of self-medication are often inappropriate and irresponsible, and as such [...] Read more.
Self-medication is a subject of global importance. If practiced responsibly, self-medication represents a part of self-care or positive care of an individual or a community in promoting their own health. However, today’s practices of self-medication are often inappropriate and irresponsible, and as such appear all over the world. Inappropriate self-medication can be connected with possible serious health risks and consequences. Therefore, it represents a global health issue. It can even generate additional health problems, which will eventually become a burden to healthcare systems and can induce significant costs, which also raises socioeconomic concerns. Hence, self-medication attracts the attention of researchers and practitioners globally in efforts to clarify the current status and define feasible measures that should be implemented to address this issue. This narrative review aims to give an overview of the situation in the field of self-medication globally, including current practices and attitudes, as well as implications for actions needed to improve this problem. A PubMed/MEDLINE search was conducted for articles published in the period from 1995 up to March 2025 using keywords “self-medication” or “selfmedication” alone or in combinations with terms related to specific subthemes related to self-medication, such as COVID-19, antimicrobials, healthcare professionals, and storing habits of medicines at home. Studies were included if self-medication was their main focus. Publications that only mentioned self-medication in different contexts, but not as their main focus, were excluded. Considering the outcomes of research on self-medication in various contexts, increasing awareness of responsible self-medication through education and informing, together with surveillance of particular medicines and populations, could lead to more appropriate and beneficial self-medication in the future. Full article
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