Table 1 Description of the nine pharmacists' practices.

The pharmaceutical consultation

Individual interview in a confidential area to inform and counsel the patient by explaining the treatment, its side effects, and drug interactions, and any follow-up to be adopted.

Therapeutic education

Practical tools for the patient to acquire skills to manage their disease and its care and supervision in partnership with health-care providers.

The pharmacist as a coordinator of care

A protocol allowing the community pharmacist, chosen by the patient, to periodically renew chronic treatments, adjust dosage (if necessary), and make medication-use reviews (side effects, observance, follow-up) at a doctor's request or with his consent.

Screening

Offering screening procedures for certain ailments to patients using easily administered tests such as blood pressure, expiratory flow rate, and blood-sugar levels.

Dimension 2: Medication surveillance

The electronic pharmaceutical record (e-pr)

Making an electronic file for each patient containing all drugs dispensed to the patient during the last four months for his or her own personal consumption, with or without medical prescription, in any pharmacy that is equipped for such recording.

The pharmaceutical opinion

A professional opinion, under the pharmacist's authority, on the pharmaceutical appropriateness of one or a series of treatments to be dispensed by the pharmacist. This is to be communicated on a standardized form to the prescriber of the medication and/or to the patient when the pharmacist recommends a revision or to justify his refusal to dispense a medication as prescribed.

Dimension 3: Pharmacy-prescribed medication

Prescription for minor ailments

Dispensing certain medications without a medical prescription or advising patients to consult a doctor, following appropriate questioning of the patient to determine the gravity of the symptoms of his or her ailment.

Sales of over-the-counter drugs

Direct public access to medications referred to as "pharmaceutical products" in specific, clearly identified locations in very close proximity to where medications are dispensed, and providing the public with information from respected health-care authorities relative to the appropriate use of these products.

Dimension 4: Participation in health-care networks

Pharmacotherapeutic consultation groups

Group discussions with GPs and/or other specialists to discuss the clinical situation of patients for whom they jointly provide care, such as in the framework of health-care networks.