The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. 7201(a) (7)) defines a community pharmacy as an organization that is not owned by a public enterprise or a publicly traded company. Private proprietors own community pharmacies and, at times, this pharmacy can also be run by a trust.
Community pharmacies redefine medical aid because of their presence at different locations and in different forms. They can be pharmacist-owned or they can abe privately held businesses, indulging in selling specialized medical products or generic products.
Community pharmacists have a misnomer associated with them that they are drug dispensers. These pharmacists don’t just sell drugs, but at times they even intervene to correct a faulty prescription provided by the doctor. Sometimes, the community pharmacists may advise the drug-buyer an alternative drug, which could cure his ailment faster.
A survey conducted by MT Rupp and his colleagues[i] revealed observations on how community pharmacists helped correct omissions made by the doctor in prescribing drugs to the patient. Out of 5,874 prescriptions, community pharmacists were able to detect errors in 2.6% of the prescriptions. The survey also revealed that community pharmacists were able to save 39 lives due to their timely intervention.
Rupp and his colleagues repeated the same set of observations with different pharmacists and doctors to get a good sampling. They induced a common inference from this exhaustive study: sometimes, doctors make mistakes but having someone like a community pharmacist helps in identifying the errors.
Rupp’s statistics notwithstanding, a community pharmacist’s role in delivering medical aid is unquestionable. Not only do they deliver medical aid, but they also check the quality of treatment provided to patients by their doctor with their medical interventions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Pharmacy
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/421293_2
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[i] Rupp MT, Schondelmeyer SW, Wilson T, Krause JE. Documenting prescribing errors and pharmacist interventions in community pharmacy practice. Am Pharm. 1988;NS28:574-580