ROLE OF PHARMACIST: As Public

Health Educator in the Community

for Drug Monitoring and Drug
Information.
CHEP:6.LECT.11.NOV.11.2024.

PHARMACIST.MUHAMMAD RIAZ BHATTI.

 Health Education

• Health education is a process that

informs, motivates and helps people to
adopt and maintain healthy practices
and lifestyles, advocates environmental
changes as needed to facilitate this goal
and conducts professional training and
research to the same end.
main objectives of health education.

• 1.Informing the people

• 2. Motivation of the people

• 3. Guidance of the people

 1.Informing the people:
• It Involves providing the information to
the people and thus disseminating
scientific knowledge about the prevention
of disease and promotion of health.

• Exposure to knowledge will remove

the barriers of ignorance, prejudices,
misconceptions and superstitions which
may have about health and disease.
 2.the motivation of the people
• This objective is concerned with the
motivation of the people to change
their habits and ways of Living.

• The commonly adopted health

practices which are detrimental to
health have to be changed .
.Motivation of the people:
• For example which includes : • Abuse of drugs,
• Use of polluted water • Physical inactivity and
• Not limiting the family size etc.
• • Indulgence in drinking and smoking.

• Education should motivate the people for adopting healthy

practices which may keep them free of avoidable diseases
and improve the quality of life.
 3.Guidance of the people:
• Health education should be provided by a variety of
well trained health personnel starting with the
physician.
• People in General need help and maintain healthy
practices and lifestyles.
• People should be encouraged and guided to use
judiciously health services available to them
• E.g. Timely immunization
• Adoption of suitable methods of family planning
• Use of safe drinking water and
• Rehabilitation of alcoholics and drug addicts etc.
 Components of health education:
• Health education envisages number of effective areas which are briefly outlined below:
• 1.Knowledge about the human body, its
structure and functions.
• 2.Nutrition and balanced diet.
• 3.Personal and environmental hygiene.
• 4.Family health: Care of the mother and child
family planning
• 5.Immunization and care of elderly.
• 5. Control of communicable and non-
communicable diseases.
• 6. Mental and social health .
• 7. Prevention of accidents and
utilization of first aid measures.
• 8. Proper use of available Health
Services.
 Pharmacist and public health:
• With the rise of population worldwide during last few
decades, it has been realized that the traditional Medical
and Health Services now play a limited role in the overall
improvement of health status.
• This fact has driven all health professionals to the
common goal of disease prevention and Health
Promotion.
• In the developed countries the clinical direction of
Pharmacy has de-emphasized the manipulative product
oriented and distributive skills and focus more on the
public health awareness.
Pharmacist and public health:
• Today, the pharmacists is directed
towards the patient his environment and
his state of general well-being.
• The Following areas have now emerged
where in the pharmacist can be actively
involved in the delivery of Healthcare to
the community. Pharmacist and public
health:
(a) All the drug related problems:
The pharmacist involvement in this area amounts to
performing disease preventing and health promoting
activities which include:
• Counseling on proper use of OTC and prescribed
medications
• Taking drug and medical problem histories
• Referring patients to specific Healthcare provisions
• Obtaining immunization schedules from health
centres and advise parents about the importance of
adhering to the times recommended therein.
 (b)Pharmacoepidemiology:
• Recently a specific area of epidemiology has
emerged which is referred to as
pharmacoepidemiology.
• It is concerned with the safety or risk assessment
of a new drug which starts with its early use and
continues and wide spread use.
• It generates information about Pharmaceutical
outcomes and monitors associated risks and
adverse drug reactions in the post marketing phase.
 (c) Communicable diseases
• When a number of serious communicable diseases have
been practically eradicated.
• Some like tuberculosis, syphilis and gonorrhea are still
common, and certain viral diseases like herpes genitalis
and acquired immune deficiency syndrome(AIDS)
have been recognised as very serious.
• The recent spread of AIDS has catapulted sexually
transmitted disease into critical dimensions.
 Communicable diseases
• The life threatening nature of AIDS has caused it
precedence over all others in this group.
• Cyst can be involved in education programs promoting safe
sexual practices, particularly where the use of condoms is
essential.
• The role of the pharmacist in the control of communicable
diseases consists of an awareness of the natural history of
these disease in both the individual and the community.
 Communicable diseases
• Referral of patients to proper medical
care facilities when so required and
public education of an informed type at
all times.
• It is in this aspect of community
Disease Control that the pharmacist can
play a very important role.
(d) Chronic disease Control:
• A community Pharmacist can encourage his/her clients
to avail themselves of the few proven techniques in
chronic disease prevention.
• Good living habits and moderate exercise have been
recommended as methods of preventing cardiovascular
diseases.
• The prevention of strokes is concerned with the control
of high blood pressure.
 (d) Chronic disease Control:
• Pharmacist can take clients blood pressure and refer him or her to
a proper physician for the treatment and encourage the patient
compliance with the prescribed regimens.
• He can promote measures as
• Quitting smoking
• Controlling high blood pressure
• Lowering cholesterol intake
• Increasing physical activity and
• Good overall health consciousness.
 (e) Health education:
• . In the developed countries many professional pharmacies now
participate in patient health education through the use of pamphlets and
bulletins freely available on display racks
• This cover every important
• Major disease, Drug Classes Health Promotion
• Drug of abuse Fluoridation
• Drug and food interactions Poison prevention
• Sexually transmitted diseases Quackery
• Immunizations disaster
• Family planning preparedness
Environmental
protection and
 Health education:
• More than this the pharmacist can actively promote good health by
reaching out to impart professional information to the public whom
he or she serves.
• Formal methods of health education have their place in public health
and preventive medicine but in the pharmacy the informed direction
and guidance of members of the public are much more realistic.
• The Participation of pharmacists in community health education
should be in the every day person to person contact with the people
whom they can serve most effectively.
 (f) Maternal and child health
• No Public health program has proved it's worth
more than the care of the mother and child.
• The basic idea behind the maternal and child
health is to take adequate care of the mother and
her child through they are exposed to the greatest
risks of disease and death ie., during pregnancy
the puerperium and the first year of life.
 Maternal and child health
•
• The early diagnosis of pregnancy inform supervision of its
progress through the delivery and the immediate Postpartum
period constitutes the full work of care in maternal and Child
Health programmes the earlier the prenatal care is given the more
beneficial is the effect that only to the mother but also to the child
as the it is directly influenced by the kid it is used while in utero
does the pharmacist understands the normal course of pregnancy
and infancy is at a distance advantage as he or she can guide the
mother in simple matters of hygiene and management of her
pregnancy and of her infant
 Maternal and child health
• This is more beneficial to those women who to lack
of education have an incomplete understanding of
how important it is to have early professional
prenatal care the pharmacist must increase breast
feeding of the child after it is born as a mother's milk
is the bike riding the mother for the protection of
child against the disease of Childhood by following
proper immunization schedule against polio
diphtheria tetanus pertussis mums and typhoid etc
 (g)Nutrition:
• The pharmacist can make significant contributions in
assuring wheat nutrition by advising his patients about basic
food needs helping to correct improper food habits in
children advising on special requirements for nutrients
during prenatal and maternal periods in females suggesting
special diet instructions for diabetic patients and people with
food allergies and participating in supporting School lunch
programmes and schemes mid day meals etc in rural areas.
 (h) Environmental health:
• The pharmacist in Environmental health is one of the alertness to the
conditions prevailing in in his community and towards the control of
any hazards.
• This is especially true of air and water pollution which require
concerted community action for their control but pharmacist can also
play a much more important role in the control of food borne
diseases the first indication of an outbreak of food borne disease is
an unusually large number of people falling sick and seeking relief
from nausea vomiting and diarrhoea more so if they are concerted
within a short period of time.
• If this type of epidemic results in an increase in over the
counter sales of anti-nauseant and anti-diarrheal drugs
call health authority should be noticed immediately.
• The pharmacist should also be aware of local
occupations and their hazards and other to the first
symptom of disease for example or occupations in which
he the workers are exposed to test for hazardous
depending upon the size of dust particles and their
ability to penetrate into lungs the workers of an asbestos
industry are prone to lung cancer.
• The pharmacist continuing education should
include watching local pattern of society and
its disease and changing his or her emphasis
the evolving patterns of disease and their
control.
(i)Alcoholism and drug abuse
• The diseases of alcoholism antic abuse also come under the
purview of the community pharmacist.
• The pharmacist will have many opportunities to help individuals
who become upon alcohol during abuse is similar to alcoholism
yet different because it has been gaining more acceptance among
young people on the campuses of educational institutions again
the pharmacist he is in the unparalleled position of being
professionally a competent member of the community to advise
local Agencies about drugs and their harmful effects
(i)Alcoholism and drug abuse
• the participation of pharmacist in the prevention
of alcoholism and drug abuse will add to his or
her credit both professionally and financially as
the contacts publicity and recognition from such
interest will also reflect in his business Returns. •
Unfortunately in our country the involvement of
pharmacist in these areas of health education
and public health is minimal.
• Without graduation of education level of the
professional pharmacist and greater award
Awareness of the public in due course it is
expected that our professional and community
pharmacist shall play a very significant role in
prevention of many communicable and
noncommunicable disease their treatment and
Rehabilitation wherever necessary the
important areas of pharmacist involvement in
public health through community pharmacy
services have been listed in the adjoining box.
Areas of pharmacist involvement in public
health through community pharmacy
• 1. Drug and nutritional counseling
• 2. Proper use of prescribed and OTC drugs
• 3. Family planning
• 4. Pregnancy and Infant care
• 5. Immunizations
• 6. Sexually transmitted diseases
• 7. Control of toxic agents
• 8. Occupational health and safety
• 9.Control of accidental injury
• 10.Fluoridation of community water supplies
• 11.Smoking cessation
• 12.Production of misuse of alcohol and drugs
• 13.Improved nutrition
• 14.Environmental protection
• 15.Programs on weed control
• 16.Poisoning and cancer signals. Areas of pharmacist involvement
in public health through community pharmacy
•HOPEFULLY WILL
FOLLOW.