Proposing a redefinition of pharmaceutical care.

In many clinical practice settings, individual pharmaceutical care practitioners have thousands of patients who may receive their service. However, the pharmaceutical care approach provides virtually no guidance regarding how patients should be identified or prioritized by practicing pharmacists. We believe that pharmacists need to be "officially" accountable to specific patient groups at high risk for drug- or disease-induced morbidity within their practice. Consequently, the current definition of pharmaceutical care and its associated care processes need to be modified to ensure the activities of pharmacists are being focused on high-priority patients on a consistent basis.