Education and practice for pharmacists being a connection between physicians and persons having unawareness of mental illness

Abstract

Pharmacists work in places where they often get in contact with people who may have trouble with their illness, patients and patients' family with prescription, and customers who purchase over-the-counter (OTC) drugs and/or daily goods. Pharmacists can also identify excessive or unsuitable use of OTC drugs resulting from a psychiatric disorder. Moreover, they are in a position in which they can also find the normal-dose addictions and fatigued patient's family resulting from their daily patient's care. Since the consultation to a pharmacist is free of charge, many people often go to the pharmacist to talk about their health concerns. If pharmacists can get in contact with persons who are not aware of their mental illness and send them to the primary care physician, the pharmacists may contribute to prevent suicide and find the unrecognized psychiatric disorder. However, since pharmacists have little knowledge regarding to the psychiatric disorder, they cannot actively contact with this type of people. This article will argue about the methodology and education for pharmacists to connect undiagnosed patients to the appropriate medical care. It is proposed that the pharmacists should encourage the undiagnosed psychiatric patients to contact with the primary care physician. In addition, pharmacists should recommend the change of prescription to the medical doctors who examine the patients expected the addiction to the prescribed drug. © 2013 The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan.