Dispensing Medicines: A Necessary Link Between Doctor and Patient

Based on a broad body of literature, the chapter highlights the plethora of problems surrounding dispensing. These include the information gaps that punctuate the transition between prescription and dispensation, the inadequacy of the documentary supports (medical prescription, therapeutic plan, the patient’s pharmacological history, information on current therapies, etc.), a not always transparent allocation of information tasks concerning the medical doctor and the pharmacist. The main insights that have oriented the research on the dispensary context are also presented: the focus on environmental requirements (organisation of space; logistics of pharmaceutical products; lighting, ambient noise), the emphasis on work organisation requirements (allocation of tasks to staff; task overload; task diversification), and the focus on the transformation of the pharmacy’s nature from a place for dispensing medicines to a place for selling para pharmaceutical products and providing service). In particular, the chapter focuses on the limitations and problems associated with the prescription and packaging of medicine because of their importance in the dispensing phase.