Finding a professional place to stand
In the South African context there is evidence, albeit cautious and hedged by some cynicism, that a model of pharmacy practice that engages with the competing knowledge frameworks involved in health care may facilitate a re-valuing of the pharmacist as a professional (Gilbert, 2004a, 2004b). The shift referred to by Gilbert includes engagement with ‘health’ discourse, which reflects many of the characteristics of ‘risk’ noted by Traulsen and Bissell (2003). There is also evidence that the community pharmacist is needed to play a more significant role in the accessible provision of primary health care, especially medicines, to a wider community (CCSA, 2005; Gilbert, 2004a, 2004b).