Healthy people 2020: Global assessment of pharmacists' involvement

Abstract

Objective: The goal of this study was to evaluate the status of Healthy People 2020 topics and objectives based on pharmacists' level of involvement. Methods: The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy-Public Health Special Interest Group (AACP-PH SIG) Development Committee conducted a systematic literature review on pharmacists' current and future involvement of Healthy People 2020. Search engines included EBSCO and Google Scholar, which were used to identify recent publications from 2000-2014. Each member of the committee selected a minimum of four Healthy People 2020 topics and objectives to review. For instance, a review was conducted on Global Health. A Likert scale (1 = least involved; 4 = most involved) was used to assess pharmacists' level of involvement in recent studies. Publications that were ranked 3 or higher on the Likert scale were included in this research. Results: Publications on Global Health indicated that 57 countries in the world have less than 30 health care professionals per 10,000 people. Furthermore, according to the World Health Statistics, there is only a ratio of 4.4 pharmacists compared with 13.9 physicians and 29 nurses per 10,000 people. Additional studies revealed that pharmacists along with other health care professionals may expand life expectancy by addressing the following top 10 global health problems: ischemic heart disease, stroke, lower respiratory infections, chronic obstructive lung disease, diarrhea, HIV/AIDS, lung cancer, prematurity, diabetes, and tuberculosis. Pharmacists are leading the efforts of reducing the prevalence of communicable diseases by providing immunizations in various health care settings. To better assess pharmacists' current and future involvement of Healthy People 2020 objectives, the AACP-PH SIG Development Committee developed and administrated a nationwide survey among pharmacy faculty. Conclusion: Expanding the role and number of pharmacists will help address the challenges of disease prevention and treatment for global populations. Intercollaborative, interprofessional health care professional teams that include pharmacists will continue to contribute to the successful achievement of global health outcomes.