eHealth services for enhanced pharmaceutical care provision: From counseling to patient education

ePharmaCare project aims at assessing the potential of ehealth services in the provision of cognitive pharmaceutical services by interacting actively with patients. There is the awareness that patient education will be vital. Collection of data on pharmaceutical services and diagnosis of the use of IT in pharmacy settings was made with the application of a survey. A set of pharmacies was selected to study the pattern of services´ provision supported by observational studies to evaluate the economic and clinical value of services to patients. The results will allow a better understanding of pharmaceutical services´ delivery and a new perspective for pharmaceutical services integration with the health system. Due to the shortage of physicians, the development of a new internet based pharmaceutical service with educational components could be an important contribution to an effective chronic diseases´ management and to change the role of patients. Furthermore there is the necessity of rethinking the community pharmacy business model to effectively integrate within future health systems.