Objectives. To measure Croatian community pharmacists' progress in competency development using the General Level Framework (GLF) as an educational tool in a longitudinal study. Methods. Patient care competencies of 100 community pharmacists were evaluated twice, in 2009 and in 2010 in a prospective cohort study. During this 12-month period, tailored educational programs based on the GLF were organized and conducted, new services and standard operating procedures were implemented, and documentation of contributions to patient care in the pharmacist's portfolio became mandatory. Results. Pharmacists' development of all GLF patient care competencies was significant with the greatest improvements seen in the following competencies: patient consultation, monitoring drug therapy, medicine information and patient education, and evaluation of outcomes. Conclusions. This study, which retested the effectiveness of an evidence-based competency framework, confirmed that GLF is a valid educational tool for pharmacist development.

Objectives. To assess Croatian community pharmacists' patient care competencies using the General Level Framework (GLF). Methods. The competencies of 100 community pharmacists working in 38 community pharmacies were evaluated using an adapted version of the GLF. Results. Pharmacists demonstrated the best performance in the competency areas drug specific issues and provision of drug products; the poorest performance was in the competency areas evaluation of outcomes and monitoring drug therapy. Pharmacists' behavior varied the most in the following areas: ensuring that the prescription is legal, prioritization of medication management problems, and identification of drug-drug interactions. Conclusions. Competencies were identified that need to be developed to improve pharmacist interventions in community settings. This study provides the first data on pharmacists' performance in Croatia and serves as a starting point for future studies and actions.

Ključne riječi: illness, disease, sickness, Parsonsov koncept uloge bolesnika (sick role), prava bolesnika, obveze bolesnika, simuliranje bolesti, moderno društvo, postmoderno društvo, neoliberalne reforme sustava zdravstvene zaštite.

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