Introduction. The pharmacists are very important part of the health care system from many years. They respond to the needs of patients, ensuring the proper pharmacotherapy. A very important element of patient-pharmacist cooperation is professional counselling. In many countries, this is a standard that provides the basis for starting to implement or develop previously initiated pharmaceutical care. Aim. Evaluation of the professional counselling level in community pharmacies in selected countries. Material and methods. The research based on authorial, anonymous forms was carried out using the mysterious patient method in the period from December 2017 to March 2018 among 130 people (83,8% women and 16,2% men) working in community pharmacies in Poland, France, Germany, Portugal, Great Britain, Indonesia and Mexico. Results. European countries are characterized by a higher degree of conversation between a pharmacy employee and a patient than in Mexico and Indonesia. The most extensive interview was conducted in Great Britain. The most popular were general question about the type of cough (31,3%) and 57,0% of interviews lasted up to 4 minutes. In Europe, the longest time has been devoted to a patient in Germany (mean 5,15 min.) and in Great Britain (mean 5,05 min.). 73,0% of patients received a recommendation to use preparations containing chemical composition, although in France, there was a tendency to recommend homeopathic products. Only 6,9% of pharmacy employees referred patients to the doctor for additional consultation in case of symptoms persist (p=0,022). Conclusions. PC level varies depending on the country. In Poland there is a need to create proper procedures, so following the example of countries that have been successfully practicing for many years in this area, a conversation protocol with the patient and the principles of PD implementation in Poland can be developed in the future.

Key words: pharmaceutical care, professional counselling, community pharmacy, pharmacist.