Creating the position of surgical pharmacist in China

Chinese hospital pharmacists must face the challenge of the Zero-Markup Drug Policy which has been implemented since 2017 in China. The policy mandates all drugs to be sold in hospitals with no markup on price. Besides pharmacist-managed clinics (PMCs),1 we found the surgery department may be a good place for pharmacists to play a role, because most surgeons are more interested in surgical procedures than medicinal treatment, and irrational drug usage is more common in the surgery department than in the internal medicine department. At the end of 2015, Guangdong Province Pharmaceutical Association (GDPA) put forward the concept of ‘surgical pharmacist’ first in China. The implementation of the Zero-Markup Drug Policy forced GDPA to create the position …