Pharmacists as Public Health
Professionals
PREPARED BY: NICOLE PAULINE P. PAUSAL, RPH
ASHP Statement on the
Pharmacist’s Role in Public Health:
Primary Objectives
• Increase awareness of pharmacists’ contributions to public health
• Educate pharmacists about public health and their role in promoting
public health
• Describe the role of pharmacists in public health planning and
promotion
• Identify new opportunities for pharmacists’ involvement in future
public health initiatives
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Levels of Prevention in Public
Health
• Primordial Prevention
• Primary Prevention : Prevention of
Disease
• Secondary Prevention: Promotion of
Health
• Tertiary Prevention: Prolongation of Life
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In Prevention of Disease
• By ensuring individuals identified as having the disease are isolated
and by providing recommendations on how individuals can safely
and effectively protect themselves to mitigate transmission
• Pharmacists perform comprehensive medication assessments and
identify potential drug interactions, adverse effects, and
complications related to medication use to ensure appropriate
medication therapy and optimize medication use to enhance patient
well-being and prevent complications.
• Pharmacists educate patients about chronic diseases (e.g., diabetes,
hypertension), and emphasize lifestyle modifications such as diet,
exercise, and stress reduction to prevent disease progression.
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In Health Promotion
• Safe and effective medication use is ensured by counseling patients
on appropriate dosages, possible side effects, and drug interactions.
• They conduct health screenings (e.g. blood pressure, cholesterol,
etc) to identify risk factors early and administer vaccines.
• Evaluate medication effectiveness, and make adjustments in
treatment programs as needed.
• Pharmacists also contribute to emergency preparedness by ensuring
immediate access to medicines and supplies during public health
emergencies.
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In Prolongation of Life
• Clinical Health Science
• Impactful role in palliative patients' quality of life by optimizing
symptom management, deprescribing, and providing education to
the palliative care team as well as patients and their families.
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Public Health Activities
• Population Health - involves understanding and addressing the diverse
factors that influence health outcomes across different populations
• Developing disease prevention and control programs (including chronic
disease or disease treatment programs).
• Promoting medication safety efforts in their institutions and
communities.
• Engaging in opioid stewardship efforts, including prevention,
intervention, and treatment.
• Advocating for sound legislation, regulations, and public policy regarding
disease prevention and management.
• Engaging in public health-related research and education programs,
initiating campaigns to disseminate new knowledge, and providing
training programs that include basic population health tools such as
statistical analysis, epidemiology, disease surveillance techniques, risk
reduction strategies, insights into methodology
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Thank you for
listening!