Social Pharmacy - GAF351
Title: Social Pharmacy
Guaranteed by: Department of Social and Clinical Pharmacy (16-16220)
Faculty: Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové
Actual: from 2024
Semester: winter
Points: 0
E-Credits: 5
Examination process: winter s.:combined
Hours per week, examination: winter s.:46/13, C+Ex [HS]
Capacity: unlimited / unlimited (unknown)
Min. number of students: unlimited
4EU+: no
Virtual mobility / capacity: no
Key competences:  
State of the course: taught
Language: English
Teaching methods: full-time
Level:  
Note: deregister from the exam date if a requisite was not fulfilled
Guarantor: doc. PharmDr. Josef Malý, Ph.D.
Comes under: 4.ročník 2025/26 Pharmacy (EN19)
Co-requisite : GAF347
Pre-requisite : GAF343
Interchangeability : GAF282
Is pre-requisite for: GAF363
WS schedule   
Annotation -
Social pharmacy is a compulsory subject within the Pharmacy study program. The field of social pharmacy is one of the basic pharmaceutical disciplines and explores the position and existence of pharmacy as a healthcare profession in society. It is an interdisciplinary field that allows us to understand the context of the interactions between medications and society. Social pharmacy builds upon the fundamental knowledge acquired in subjects such as History and Organization of Pharmacy, Basics of Pharmacy Practice, Health Care Psychology, Law and Ethics for Pharmacists, Economics and Management of Pharmaceutical Practice. At the same time, knowledge in social pharmacy is intertwined with the parallel subject Pharmaceutical Care I. Through this course, students will gain an understanding of medications and their role and significance in the population, knowledge about various subjects related to healthcare and drug policy and the basic organizational and functional principles of the healthcare system, which are essential for a pharmacist's comprehension.
Last update: Malý Josef, doc. PharmDr., Ph.D. (12.09.2025)
Course completion requirements -

Credit conditions:

  • 100% (full) attendance at seminars.
  • Presentation of team seminar work.
  • Written credit test.

Oral exam.

Last update: Malý Josef, doc. PharmDr., Ph.D. (12.09.2025)
Literature -

Obligatory:

  • Annemans, Lieven. Health economics for non-economists. Gent: Academia Press, 2008, 106 s. ISBN 9789038212746.

  • Muenning, Peter. Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Health. San Francisco: Jossea-Bass, 2008, 266 s. ISBN 978-0-7879-955b-0.

  • Braverman, Jordan. Health economics. London, Chicago: Pharmaceutical Press, 2010, 359 s. ISBN 978-0-85369-867-8.

  • Guidelines for ATC Classification and DDD Assignment, WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics [online]. Dostupné z: https://www.whocc.no/atc_ddd_publications/guidelines/

  • Strom, Brian L. Kimmel, Stephen E. Hennessy, Sean (eds.). Pharmacoepidemiology. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012, 953 s. ISBN 978-0-4706-5475-0.

  • Rodgers, Ruth, Dewsbury, Catherine Lea, Andrew. Law and ethics in pharmacy practice. London: (PhP) Pharmaceutical Press, 2010, 162 s. ISBN 978-0-85369-885-2.

Last update: Malý Josef, doc. PharmDr., Ph.D. (12.09.2025)
Teaching methods -

Lectures and seminars.

Last update: Malý Josef, doc. PharmDr., Ph.D. (12.09.2025)
Requirements to the exam -

Credit conditions:

  • 100% (full) attendance at seminars.
  • Presentation of team seminar work.
  • Written credit test.

Oral exam.

Last update: Malý Josef, doc. PharmDr., Ph.D. (12.09.2025)
Syllabus -

Syllabus           

Lectures:

  1. Introduction to the subject of Social Pharmacy, the importance of medicines in medicine and society, principles of rational use of medicines
  2. Health policy
  3. Drug policy
  4. Health statistics, epidemiology, informatics
  5. Classification systems for medicines, dietary supplements, food for special purposes, orphan drugs, medical devices
  6. Marketing authorisation of medicines, unregistered drugs
  7. Health care systems, health care financing and marketing, health care specifics
  8. Pharmaceutical industry, generic and original companies, distribution, actual problems
  9. Pharmacoeconomics, Health technology assessment
  10. Health insurance and insurance companies
  11. Pricing and reimbursement of medicines
  12. Pharmaceutical research, clinical trials
  13. Medication adherence
  14. Pharmaceutical education, health workers
  15. Pharmacovigilance
  16. Pharmaceutical control, quality of provided health care and patient safety
  17. Prevention in health and pharmacy, preventive measures and screening programs
  18. Drug utilization
  19. Health and Disease, determinants of health, search for health problems in the population
  20. Professional organizations in health care and pharmacy, role of EMA, FDA, SÚKL and Ministry of Health
  21. Antibiotics policy and prevention of infectious diseases
  22. Social and labour law, personnel policy in health care, multiculture principles, ethnicity
  23. Health law and legislation

Seminars:

  1. Health statistics (examples)
  2. Brand name and generic drugs, generic substitution
  3. Marketing, advertisement, health ethics, positive lists
  4. Advanced pharmacovigilance (examples)
  5. Seminar teamwork I
  6. Seminar teamwork II
Last update: Malý Josef, doc. PharmDr., Ph.D. (12.09.2025)
Learning outcomes

The course Social Pharmacy builds upon the fundamental knowledge acquired in the courses such as History and Organization of Pharmacy, Law and Ethics for Pharmacists and Economics and Management of Pharmaceutical Practice. At the same time, the knowledge in Social Pharmacy intertwined with the parallel course Pharmaceutical Care I. subsequently, Social Pharmacy is the basis for the follow-up courses of the 5th year of Pharmacy Study Program (Pharmacoeconomics and Health Technology Assessments) and finally it is applied to the courses Professional Experience in in Pharmacy I and II. This course introduces social pharmacy as one of the essential pharmaceutical disciplines, which is focused on the position and significance of pharmacy as a health care profession in society. It is an interdisciplinary discipline that provides an understanding of the interaction between the drug and the society.
By completing the course, the students are able to take a comprehensive view of the role of drugs and their importance in the population, as well as to understand the functioning and interconnectedness of the entire pharmaceutical system. Furthermore, they can list various entities health and drug policy entities and define the fundamental organizational and functional principles of the healthcare system that are necessary for pharmacists to understand.

Learning outcomes:
Students based on the knowledge and skills acquired:
- to define the importance of drug in medicine and society;
- to characterise the different actors of healthcare and drug policy, including the context of current legislation;
- to list the basic statistical and epidemiological units used in health care;
- to explain the conditions for the classification and registration of medicinal products, medical devices, food supplements, orphan drugs and food for special medical purposes;
- to apply examples of the principles of generic substitution and prescription and biosimilars;
- to propose solutions to problems of availability, quality and rational use of medicines;
- to apply examples of the use of unregistered medicines;
- to explain how healthcare is financed, including pricing and reimbursement of medicines;
- to explain regulatory measures in the field of pharmacovigilance;
- to compare different types of pharmaceutical control;
- to list the basic terminology of medication adherence and the factors that influence it;
- to suggest how the society, with a focus on the pharmacist, can engage in prevention and screening;
- to assess antibiotic policy and antibiotic stewardship options;
- to define the role of government-led and professional organisations involving in health care;
- to characterize pharmacy undergraduate, graduate and continuing education;
- to demonstrate how to apply ethical, social, labour and multicultural approaches in different sectors of health care, with an emphasis on pharmacy.

Last update: Navrátilová Lucie, Ing. (08.01.2026)