Pharmacy practice acts: a decade of progress

OBJECTIVE: This 10-year follow-up study of previously published surveys of pharmacy practice acts examines 50 state and the District of Columbia pharmacy practice acts to assess the range of statutory definitions and determine the direction and magnitude of statutory changes since 1988. DATA SOURCES: State codes for 50 states and the District of Columbia, with attention focused on the pharmacy practice acts; Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands were excluded. DATA EXTRACTION: The focus on each statute was the statutory definition of the “practice of pharmacy.” DATA SYNTHESIS: Comparing 1998 with 1988, codification of interpreting and evaluating prescriptions increased 22% (1998; 39/47, four states contain no definition of the practice of pharmacy), compounding 8% (47/47), consultation 19% (41/47), dispensing 2.5% (47/47), drug administration threefold (24/47), drug product selection twofold (45/47), drug utilization review 70% (35/47), patient assessment 6.5-fold (6/47), pharmacokinetic services threefold (3/47), pharmacist prescribing 4.6-fold (15/47), and participation in drug research 10.5-fold (10/47). CONCLUSIONS: Since 1988, state pharmacy practice acts have increased the codification of pharmaceutical care services as integral pharmacy functions. Although substantial progress has been made over the past decade, a number of states have not incorporated definitions of pharmaceutical care functions into their state statutes. Enactment of the National Association Boards of Pharmacy Model State Pharmacy Act is one way for pharmacists' practice to expand with the evolution of the practice of pharmacy.