Pharmacist and nurse: a team approach towards primary health care or a convenient "therapeutic alliance"?

This paper explores the nature of the therapeutic alliance between nurses and community pharmacists in the South African context. To gain a better insight into the relatively new phenomenon, a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods was employed. The partnership developed in S.A. between the nurse and the pharmacist allows the pharmacists to "expand" their professional activities without "invading" the nurses' professional domain, and reaping substantial benefits in the process. These include potential increases in profits, enlarging the clientele base and improving the image of the pharmacy, by shifting the focus from a place of disease to a place of health, as well as creating the vision of the pharmacist as a team member in providing primary health care. As far as the nurses are concerned, it grants them the possibility to practice their profession in a very convenient set-up and affords them greater professional autonomy.