Clinical pharmacy refers to a discipline separated from hospital pharmacy. It is a comprehensive applied technical discipline which takes patients as the object, aims at improving the quality of clinical medication, focuses on the interaction between drugs and the body, and studies and practices the rational clinical application of drugs.
Western developed countries put forward the concept of "clinical pharmacy" in the middle and late 1950s, set up "clinical pharmacy specialty" in universities and established "clinical pharmacist system" in hospitals in the early 1960s. Pharmacists directly participate in clinical medication, which improves the level of clinical medication and protects the safety of patients.
Since the establishment of the clinical pharmacist system was first proposed in the Interim Provisions on Pharmaceutical Affairs Management of Medical Institutions in 2002, in June 2006, the Ministry of Education decided to set up a "clinical pharmacy major" in the pharmacy major of colleges and universities, and the Ministry of Health adopted a series of measures, such as formulating guidance for clinical pharmacist training, establishing a clinical pharmacist training base, and starting a pilot project for clinical pharmacist training, which effectively promoted the development of clinical pharmacy in hospitals.