Person-centred care in pharmacy: time to walk the talk

Abstract

Person-centred care is widely recognised as a cornerstone of collaborative practice, which emphasises the patient at the centre of the larger interprofessional team. However, emerging research continues to highlight gaps in the pharmacy professions’ ability to practice person-centred care, owning to ambiguities in its understandings, as well as a risk-averse culture that positions pharmacists as gatekeepers of medication information rather than as proactive collaborators who engage and co-design care with patients. To meet the evolving needs of the healthcare sector, pharmacists must embed person-centred care as a defining element of their professional identity. This requires strengthening foundational education and training, fostering self-reflective and self-awareness practice, and rethinking organisational processes through targeted advocacy that affirms the pharmacist’s integral role within multidisciplinary teams. By doing so, pharmacy can more effectively contribute to optimising health outcomes and delivering truly person-centred care.