Health Education and Community Pharmacy

Health Education and Community
Pharmacy, an introduction
Dr.Raghavendra S.Hegde
D.Pharm., B.Pharm., Pharm.D.,( MBA., PGDHM)., R.Ph(KSPC)
Lecturer, Dept of Pharmacy Practice
H.S.K College of Pharmacy,Bagalkot

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.
2/16/2020 2Dr.Hegde Lectures(DHL)

According to this definition, the three main objectives of health
education are:
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.

• 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 .
2/16/2020 Dr.Hegde Lectures(DHL) 5
2.Motivation of the people:

For example which includes :
• Outdoor defecation
• Use of polluted water
• Indulgence in drinking and
smoking.
• Abuse of drugs,
• Physical inactivity and
• Not limiting the family size
etc.
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.
Components of health education:

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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.
(d) Chronic disease Control:

• 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.
(e) Health education:
This cover every important
Major disease, Drug Classes
Drug of abuse
Drug and food interactions
Sexually transmitted diseases
Immunizations
Family planning
Health Promotion
Fluoridation
Poison prevention
 Quackery
disaster preparedness
Environmental protection
and workplace safety.

• 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.
(e) Health education:

(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.

• 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

• 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 best food designed for it later
on the pharmacist can play under major role 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

• 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.
(i)Alcoholism and drug abuse

• 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

Health Education and Community Pharmacy

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Tendances

Tendances (20)

Similaire à Health Education and Community Pharmacy

Similaire à Health Education and Community Pharmacy (20)

Plus de HSK College of Pharmacy

Plus de HSK College of Pharmacy (20)

Dernier

Dernier (20)

Health Education and Community Pharmacy