The role of assistant pharmacists in European countries

The present paper aims to present the specificcharacteristics of the education of pharmacy assistants, their responsibilities and professional activities in the European countries. М aterial and methods: A search of scientific publications was performed in Pubmed and Google Scholar with key words „pharmacy assistant“, „pharmacy technician“ and „Еurope“. A descriptive thematic analysis of the collected information on the professional activities of pharmacy assistants in Europe is performed. Results : We found seven publication that present in details and comparatively the education and responsibilities of various professionals working and assisting the pharmacists in both community and hospital pharmacies. One of these is the 2017 survey of the European association of pharmacy technicians on the education of work of pharmacy technician in Europe. Conclusion: The review of the European practices reveals high level of the university education of the pharmacy assistantsin Bulgaria in comparison to other countries. The regulation of the independent activities of the professionals and those performed under pharmacist’s supervision in our country lags behind other European examples.