The patient: Our teacher and friend

Pharmacy educators challenge and teach pharmacy students and practitioners to change and expand their practice roles in the pursuit of the provision of pharmaceutical care. Yet, there is a dearth of research and information about the provision of pharmaceutical care from the patient's perspective. Using an introspective research method we present an actual case study of a patient who suffered an episodic illness that required drug therapy treatment and the provision of pharmaceutical care. From the patient's perspective we: (I) describe the illness episode and treatment regimen; (ii) describe and discuss solutions to patient care situations such as patient involvement in diagnosis of illness, treatment of pain after surgery, patient involvement with drug therapy risk assessment, patient therapeutic outcomes monitoring and risk management, disease and drug information overload, the role of the patient advocate, and patient coping, adaptation and control associated with illness and treatment; and (ill) briefly discuss literature that is related to the patient's actions and behaviors. From the patient's experiences we pose a number of issues for pharmacy educators to address in the design of professional curricula to include experiential clerkships.