Jeroen van de Pol

11 General introduction 1 from patients are of paramount importance and need to be considered when developing healthcare services including community pharmacy services. However, one should not forget the demands and opinions of healthcare professionals themselves and try to align these with demands from patients. If this step is not undertaken, the risk is being introduced that healthcare professionals become disengaged [23]. Experiences of disengagement may result in future resistance to change. Change management requires careful thought, but also the courage to make decisions that will get the support from- and direct health care providers in the desired directions [23, 24]. The transitional phase currently ongoing within community pharmacy practice can be described with Kotters’ 8-step change model, which has been used successfully in other healthcare sectors both to describe and implement change [25]. This model describes eight different steps towards successful implementation of change (Figure 3). Figure 3: Kotters' 8 step model to implement change successfully. The dot illustrates the current position of change within community pharmacy practice. With regard to change towards an increased care provide role of the community pharmacist the first steps within Kotters’ 8-step change model have actually already been made in the past decades. The dot in Figure 3 illustrates the current position of community pharmacy practice within the transitional phase according to Kotters’ 8-step change model. This indicates that steps from a sense of urgency to enlisting a volunteer army have already been undertaken in certain degree. Currently, the profession is at a point that barriers need to be identified and resolved. The steps that have already been undertaken will be highlighted next.