Today’s healthcare landscape is a collage of healthcare professionals, medications, procedures, and costs — all changing as the current ailment demands.
Needed to help us decipher these challenges and choices is a frontline healthcare provider with the knowledge and capacity to guide us to better health.
Many people do not realize that their most accessible healthcare provider is their local pharmacist. Pharmacists are everywhere — in person, informed and engaged. They have evolved from dispensers of medication to indispensible partners in our medical delivery system.
We need to take advantage of the invaluable healthcare resources offered by today’s pharmacists. Pharmacists are now advisors on preventative health measures, disease management, medication therapy management and all its related costs. They also provide immunizations, blood pressure screenings and other services within an established community-based setting.
The role of a pharmacist in your life will, most likely, increase in importance in the years ahead. This is due to a variety of societal changes. One of them is inevitable: your age. More than 38 million Americans are 65 years and older, a 13.4 percent increase in just 10 years.
Another of these societal changes is economic. You may be one of the more than 51 million Americans uninsured or the 14 million who are currently unemployed, thus making a pharmacist your first-call caregiver.
Another related societal change is increased utilization of medications. Between 1988 to 1994, the average number of Americans on at least one prescription drug was 39.1percent. From 2005 to 2008 that number increased to 47.2 percent. With progress comes uncertainty. Who best to discuss these choices than with your local pharmacist?
It is our job as school of pharmacy educators to raise the performance of future pharmacists to meet the challenges of America’s complex healthcare landscape. For instance, years ago if you were a person with diabetes, your discussion with your pharmacist would center on an insulin prescription. Now the pharmacist must be prepared to discuss with you new protocols involving many drugs, proper diet, exercise, blood pressure screenings, the importance of foot care, and insurance coverage.
Pharmacists more than ever need to be good communicators. The goal is to help people find their path to good health. Understanding individual concerns and mitigating problems are essential to a successful practice in pharmacy.
Additionally, we must train pharmacists to be well-versed in the culture in which they — and you — operate. This understanding is critical when dealing with such a private issue as one’s health. Such cultural sensitivities are now at the core of many schools of pharmacy curricula, and will only serve to strengthen the bond between the pharmacist and his/her community. We study everything from your language to lifestyle, from your foods to fears. It is the best way to build trust.
To help you walk safely through today healthcare landscape, introduce yourself to your local pharmacist. They have become trusted advisors to individuals, families and neighborhoods. They are uniquely qualified to access and respond to your medication needs and much more.
Talk to your pharmacist — now, more than ever, it’s the smart thing to do.
Dr. Joseph R. Ofosu is founding dean and professor at St. Joseph College School of Pharmacy in Hartford.
