Official pharmacist
As official pharmacists are called in Germany full-time employed pharmaceutical technical officers or assistants in the health department of a circle or an independent city in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). They are licensed pharmacists who are usually trained to become specialist pharmacists for public health.
Legal basis
The legally fixed term "Amtsapotheker" only exists in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). The function of the official pharmacist was anchored in a legal norm on January 8, 1980 by the "Ordinance on responsibilities in the pharmaceutical sector" of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Since November 1997 the law on the public health service of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (ÖGD law), here Section 20, has been the legal basis. The individual tasks of the official pharmacist are laid down in the administrative regulation for the implementation of administrative tasks in the pharmaceutical field.
Monitoring task area
Official pharmacists monitor drug traffic at the local level. They inspect public pharmacies and hospital pharmacies on the basis of the Pharmacy Act and the Pharmacy Operating Regulations . They also monitor hospitals with regard to the proper handling of medicines . For this purpose, station inspections are carried out. You check the stored drugs and the handling of drugs in old people's and nursing homes and emergency services as well as in other retail businesses (e.g. in grocery stores , department stores , health food stores , health food stores , fitness studios , sex shops , hardware stores , garden shops , etc.) on the basis of the Medicines Act and Hazardous Substances Law . Further tasks are the monitoring of the narcotic traffic in the respective district / in the respective city in pharmacies, hospitals and medical practices , the examination chair of schools for the training of pharmaceutical technical assistants (PTA) and the monitoring of the implementation of clinical tests of drugs with regard to the doctor - Subject ratio. This task was centralized in 2008 in the GCP Inspectorate (GCP = Good Clinical Practice ) in Düsseldorf .
Responsibility for social pharmacy
When the ÖGD law came into force on January 1, 1998, the official pharmacists should be active in the field of social pharmacy . They should observe, document, analyze and evaluate the drug consumption of the population and on this basis educate, inform and advise the population. In addition, they should help combat drug abuse. They are supported by the North Rhine-Westphalia Health Center (LZG.NRW).
Demarcation
Official pharmacists are to be distinguished from the pharmacy departments. Pharmacy Deputies are pharmaceutical specialists from a federal state. You do not work in a local health department like the official pharmacists, but in a state authority. However, the areas of work sometimes overlap.
The routine monitoring of pharmacies outside of North Rhine-Westphalia is carried out by voluntary pharmacists .
Official pharmacist in Switzerland
In Switzerland, all pharmacists who work in surveillance (inspectorates) or in federal offices (e.g. Swissmedic ) are subsumed under official pharmacists . In Switzerland, official pharmacists are also employed in the processing of regulations (e.g. in the context of health insurance or legislation) as well as in disaster organization and prevention.
In addition, there is a specialist office for the field of therapeutic products in several cantons . The cantonal pharmacy office is responsible for monitoring the safety and quality in the manufacture of medicinal products, insofar as this is the cantonal responsibility. Canton pharmacists carry out free and anonymous examinations of amphetamines and lifestyle pills up to 15 times a week as part of the " drug check " project in Bern .
Individual evidence
- ^ Law on the Public Health Service North Rhine-Westphalia, here Section 20, drug monitoring and social pharmacy
- ↑ Administrative regulation for the implementation of administrative tasks in the pharmaceutical field
- ↑ From the website of the Swiss Association of Official and Hospital Pharmacists
- ↑ ZDFmediathek ( Memento of the original from December 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
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- Sylvia Demelius: Official pharmacists , in: Dt. Apoth. Ztg., 145 (2005), pp. 5736-5739
- Udo Puteanus: Social pharmacy in the public health service , in: Dt. Apoth. Ztg. 144 (2004), pp. 1205-1212