In order to equip the pharmacists with the information towards educating patients for safe and apt use of medicines, the Maharashtra State Pharmacy Council (MSPC) has redesigned Patient Counseling Course (PCC) as a part of its Continuing Education Programme (CEP).

PCC which was earlier a five-day course has got an overwhelming response with 2,500 pharmacists having trained under it over a period of five years. The course will now be offered in three days to the registered pharmacists across Maharashtra thus saving on the candidate's time and expense.

With the objective of making a paradigm change in the image of pharmacy profession from being a product oriented to patient oriented, MSPC’s Drug Information Centre (DIC) has come out with Patient Counseling manual as a part of the course containing over 100 drugs, a ready reckoner for the pharmacist to cater to the contemporary health needs of the patients. The drugs included in the manual approved by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), guides the pharmacist about adverse drug reactions and dispensing tips of drugs while counseling the patient.

Saili S Masal, registrar, MSPC said,"The course got redesigned with the initiative, support and guidance from council members - J S Shinde, executive committee member and president MSPC, Vijay Patil. In accordance with the guidelines of Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) to train and educate the pharmacists through various CEPs, such a course is the need of the hour as a trained pharmacist via patient counseling can  help address medication errors effectively."

She explained that such courses are aimed at ensuring that patient becomes an informed, efficient and active participant in disease treatment, self care management and use of certain medical devices. Many patients lack an understanding about the expanded counseling roles that pharmacists are prepared to provide. PCC is a boon to the pharmacists in urban and rural areas like Sangli, Kolhapur, Solapur and Jalgaon because the three-day session infuses confidence in the participant by giving him hands-on experience through interactive lectures.

The course comprises interactive lectures through power point presentation, group activity, case study, discussion, participant and faculty interaction. As part of CEP, MSPC is also conducting one-day refresher course focusing on areas like pharmacy care, proper storage of drugs, medication errors, drug laws and rational use of antibiotics.

Considering the geographical barriers and difficulty in attending the course in a classroom format in person, council’s drug information centre has also developed Online Refresher Course (ORC), which allows the pharmacist to simply log in to council’s website www.mspcindia.org/homedic.aspx and get enrolled with minimal charges that can be paid online using payment gateway.