The Pharmacist’s Crucial Role in Health Policy and management

The Pharmacist’s Crucial Role in Health Policy and management

Overview

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  • Source: Microbioz India

  • Date: 16 Mar,2023

A pharmacist is a medical expert who works to alleviate suffering and restore health by compounding and dispensing drugs. Find out what it takes to acquire a degree in pharmacy and where your career can take you.

To work as a pharmacist can be both rewarding and financially rewarding. Pharmacists may not get the same level of recognition as doctors and nurses, but they play a crucial role in ensuring that patients receive the care they need.

What is a pharmacist?

A pharmacist is a medical expert who focuses on the safe and effective use of drugs. They take prescriptions from doctors and give them to patients. Pharmacists are trained to help patients get the most out of their medication by understanding how it will react within their bodies.

Role of Pharmacists:

  1. Assuring that the customer’s current meds won’t react negatively with the new ones
  2. Second, administering vaccinations such as the flu shot
  3. Checking a client’s glucose, lipid, or blood pressure levels
  4. Guiding clients through the steps of a successful medication intake
  5. Discussing individual patients’ prescription needs with doctors and other healthcare providers
  6. Checking for the most fundamental health concerns
  7. Supervising pharmaceutical staff, including technicians and assistants
  8. Insurance company negotiations
  9. Maintain control of the distribution of pharmaceuticals and make sure pharmacies are up to code.
  10. Respond to patients’ symptoms and offer advice on medicines available for sale in pharmacies.
  11. Counsel other healthcare professionals on the safe and effective use of medicines
  12. Help patients with things like quitting smoking, checking their blood pressure, and controlling their cholesterol levels
  13. Monitor pharmaceutical companies‘ production and preparation of medicines and quality assessments of medicines before supplying them to patients.

Public Health:

What is Public Health?

The goal of public health is to improve and safeguard the health of all members of a community.

To put it simply, a doctor treats patient who are already sick, while those of us who work in public health want to keep people from getting sick or hurt in the first place. One of the ways we spread health and happiness is through praising and rewarding good choices.

Role of Pharmacists in Public Health:

In spite of the fact that their contributions to the nation’s overall health are not always sufficiently recognised, pharmacists serve an essential (though frequently undervalued) role. In addition to selling medication, pharmacists provide a variety of other services. Although this wasn’t always the case, pharmacy education and practise have continuously progressed in order to better serve the requirements of the general public.

The American Public Health Association (APHA) publishes a definition of the function of the pharmacist in public health in the year 1981. (APHA). This association highlighted that the function of the pharmacist is now expanding beyond the dispensing and distribution of medicines and health supplies to include other responsibilities as well. In today’s world, the services provided by pharmacists now encompass administrative tasks and public health-related responsibilities. At this point, the focus shifts more towards the patient.

A pharmacist is capable of providing a wide range of services to the public health sector, some of which may include the provision of pharmacotherapy, care, and preventative measures. Aside from providing medication, a pharmacist can also serve as a resource for customers seeking knowledge on health and the use of various medications. Because the deployment of pharmacists in clinical communities is so useful, the incorporation of public health practises into pharmaceutical treatment and the provision of pharmacological education are both essential.

Role Recognition In contrast to public health dietitians, public health nurses, and physicians, pharmacists are not explicitly recognised as a profession within the scope of the public health workforce. The function of the pharmacist in public health has not yet been precisely defined, widely acknowledged, or adequately promoted by public health authorities, pharmacy education, or other health care professionals. 6 When compared to other specialists in the health care industry, pharmacists are unusually approachable.

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