Pharmacist Advocacy

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The profession of pharmacy does not only encompass the knowledge of the composition and uses of drugs. It entails many other aspects like patient care, --, and advocacy. Advocacy means to act or speak in support for a cause. Advocacy can be implemented in pharmacy in two ways: advocating for the pharmaceutical profession, and for the patient. One way of practicing advocacy in pharmacy is to advocate for the profession. Pharmacists have a duty to promote their profession to health care professionals, patients, and the public. Although there are many ways to do so, the best is to be model practitioners of pharmacy and show everyone firsthand what pharmacists are really about. This must be done by setting the image of pharmacists being not just dispensing machines, but patient-centered care providers whose utmost priority is to give patients and prescribers useful drug information in order to play a part in achieving optimal life outcomes for the patient. Pharmacists must prove themselves to be accessible, effective, trustworthy, and indispensable. …show more content…

Since health care legislative decisions will directly affect patients, pharmacists should strive to make sure that all decisions are indeed best for the patient. Pharmacists should keep themselves updated about legislation related to pharmacy and be in contact with lawmakers in order to influence future matters of interest. In Canada, for instance, the Canadian Pharmacists Association has a committee called the Advocacy Committee which pharmacists can join and collaborate with each other to work on advocacy

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