Future vision and challenges for hospital pharmacy Malebona Precious Matsoso

Demographic and epidemiologic transitions have imposed de-mands on health service provi-sion, as have health sector reforms, the challenges of aging populations, disease profiles, the changing phar-maceutical landscape, and new care models created to respond to chang-ing disease patterns. These develop-ments have had an impact on the different sectors of pharmacy. Phar-macy has moved from the historical orientation of product-focused ser-vice to patient-centered approaches. In some countries, pharmacy has de-veloped enhanced interprofessional relationships with other health care providers. Changes have occurred not only in service delivery but also in other spheres. Advancements in technol-ogy, scientific breakthroughs, and de-velopments in the medical field have contributed significantly to patient care. Drug development in the scien-tific field has moved from innovative chemistry to molecular drug designs. Lately, the focus has been on predic-tive models, with genetics taking center stage. The practices of medi-cine and pharmacy have transformed from experimentation to evidence generation. The innovations that come with technological advances require ad-aptations of the health system and an enhancement of the pharmacist’s knowledge base. This has meant changes in approaches to service delivery across all levels of care, pos-ing challenges to the primary-care and hospital-care roles of pharmacy. These challenges have required many countries to critically assess the size, skills, and competencies of the health work force. Responses have differed, based on health policies and resource availability of individual countries