E-drug: Direct-to-consumer ads and Internet (cont'd)
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The study by Candy Day and Andy Gray provides some very useful
perspectives on this complex issue.
A specific feature which interests me is the 21st century pharmacist
(P21) who is committed to pharmaceutical care and establishes a web
site to help people identify and resolve potential and actual drug
related problems. This goes beyond the traditional drug information
source in that the role of P21 is based on pharmaceutical care
principles in terms of responsibility and accountability.
When does this pharmacist / web site become regarded by the
professional regulatory agency as a practising pharmacist and become
subject to the rules, regulations and control of the professional
regulatory body? And how would a professional audit take place? How
different would this situation be from one in which the web site also
(a) contained advertising about pharmaceutical products but did not
offer to sell any of these products? (b) contained advertising about
pharmaceutical products and did provide a facility to order
non-prescription products and/or prescription products?
I anticipate that in the near future, all community / retail pharmacies
will have their own web sites and that the web site will provide an
important opportunity for pharmacists to differentiate and develop
competitive niche markets. But will it be necessary for the retail
pharmacist to develop his/her own web site? Or is there an
opportunity will exist for web literate pharmacists to set up web sites
and sell niche space to the retailers, on a small or large scale? And to
what extent will this be limited by regulation?
Lots of questions Candy but I know that you have lots of experience
and I look forward to your comments.
Thanks,
Billy Futter
Associate Professor
Faculty of Pharmacy
Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
email B.Futter@ru.ac.za
phone 046 603 8494
fax 046 636 1205
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