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Objectives: Upon completion of the chapter and exercises, the learner will be able to
Define public health.
Identify areas in public health where pharmacists are leading participants of the health care team.
Identify partners for pharmacists to promote the health of their communities.
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This chapter provides an overview and background on public health areas of practice and organizations. Pharmacists play an important role in the public's health but often think of their activities in the narrower framework of pharmacy practice. It is important that as a student pharmacist you become involved now in advocacy and population health ideals. While progressing through the school curriculum, take note of all the areas of practice that you are exposed to that address the social determinants of health, including economic stability, education access and quality, health care access, environment, and social and community context. Think about how in the practice of pharmacy will address these public health issues.
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WHAT IS PUBLIC HEALTH
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An Internet search for a definition of public health results in many variations but they all include five basic tenants. In general, a definition of public health includes terms such as protecting and improving the health of a community, disease prevention, health education, control of communicable diseases, application of sanitary measures, and monitoring of environmental hazards. Overall, public health professionals are concerned with protecting the health of entire populations. These populations can be as small as a local neighborhood, or as big as an entire country. Public health professionals work to prevent problems from happening or reoccurring through implementing educational programs, developing policies, administering services, and conducting research. Contrast the above-listed activities to those of clinical professionals, such as physicians and nurses, and pharmacists who focus primarily on treating individuals after they become sick or injured. Public health practitioners are concerned with limiting health disparities and a large part of public health practice is the fight for health care equity, quality, and accessibility. Based on the definition of public health, it is apparent that all pharmacists are now able to support, and add to, the role that public health pharmacists, such as those at the World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Indian Health Services (IHS) as examples, have been engaged in for many years.
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The practice of public health encompasses many academic disciplines and is comprised of five core areas:
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Biostatistics
Epidemiology
Environmental Health
Health Services Administration/Management
Social and Behavioral Science/Health Education
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In addition to these five core topics, other areas that fall in as subcategories include:
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Maternal and Child Health
Nutrition
International/Global Health
Public Health Laboratory Practice
Public Health Policy
Public Health Practice
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The following sections introduce each of the core areas with respect to relevant topics and the impact of public health professionals in that ...