Over the years, CDC has developed excellent resources for and about pharmacists–but sometimes they’re hard to find. See below for a compilation!
Table of Contents
- Pharmacists and the Opioid Crisis
- Pharmacists and Tobacco Cessation
- Pharmacists Role in Chronic Disease Prevention and Control
- Pharmacists’ Impact on the Nation’s Health
- Pharmacist and Management of Diabetes
- Pharmacists and the Management of Cardiovascular Disease
- Pharmacists and Immunizations
- Continuing Education Resources from the CDC
- Other Information
CDC also has a variety of resources available about collaborative practice agreements. See more on the CPA resource page.
Pharmacists and the Opioid Crisis
- Pharmacists: On the Front Lines – Addressing Prescription Opioid Abuse and Overdose – Excellent one pager, front and back, outlining pharmacists ability to address prescription opioid abuse by using their patient facing interactions to assess risk factors and communicate with patients.
Pharmacists and Tobacco Cessation
- Pharmacists: Help Your Patients Quit Smoking – CDC resource with links for pharmacists to engage in a key role in the fight against tobacco use. This resource provides links to several handouts, fact sheets, free continuing education, and videos to aid pharmacists in helping their patients quit smoking.
Pharmacists’ Role in Chronic Disease Prevention and Control
- A Program Guide for Public Health: Partnering with Pharmacists in the Prevention and Control of Chronic Diseases – A guide to provide a starting point in moving the role of pharmacist beyond simply dispensing medications into a more involved relationship with state health departments and communities to address chronic disease management.
- Preventing Chronic Disease: Provision of Clinical Preventive Services by Community Pharmacists – Article on community pharmacists providing opportunities for team based approaches to expand the population’s access to clinical preventative services. This article highlights the accessibility of community pharmacists and takes studies of four clinical preventative services that can be offered by community pharmacists: preventative medication; healthy behaviors; chronic disease screening; and infectious disease screening.
Pharmacists’ Impact on the Nation’s Health
- How Pharmacists Can Improve Our Nation’s Health – Presentation illustrating how pharmacists impact team based care models to provide a variety of preventative care and wellness services to increase access care for patients. Please see slides below:
- Weighing in on Antibiotic Resistance: Community Pharmacists Tip the Scale – Free Continuing Education! Review the importance of understanding antibiotic resistance and how to promote the proper use of antibiotics among many other related topics while earning CE credit.
Pharmacist and Management of Diabetes
The CDC has worked to develop a comprehensive guide and toolkit for providers of pharmacy, podiatry, optometry, and dentistry (PPOD) to help providers come together to provide diabetes care, decrease the risk for complications as a result of diabetes, and manage medication therapy. Those resources, both the guide and toolkit can be found below:
- Working Together to Manage Diabetes:
- Emerging Practices in Diabetes Prevention and Control: Working with Pharmacists – In this document the CDC highlights three states: Colorado, Iowa, and Ohio and their experience with the role of pharmacists in chronic disease management. This Emerging Practices document focuses primarily on medication therapy management (MTM) and team-based care.
Pharmacists and the Management of Cardiovascular Disease
- Science-In-Brief: Impact of Pharmacist Care in the Management of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors – This brief CDC overview of the role pharmacists play in the management of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and the associated risk factors uses a review of muliple studies to show the positive impact of pharmacist intervention groups at improving CVD risk factors.
- Using the Pharmacists’ Patient Care Process to Manage High Blood Pressure: A Resource Guide for Pharmacists – The CDC’s resource guide for pharmacists on mangaing high blood pressure serves as a call to action to health care providers to use the Pharmacists’ Patient Care Process as a way to prevent and manage high blod pressure through team-based care. With this team-based approach the goal is to utilize pharmacists to reduce heart disease and stroke in the United States.
- Cardiovascular Health Medication Adherence – Action Steps for Health Benefit Managers – Outlining major risk factors for heart disease: smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, this publication highlights pharmacists role on the frontlines of identifying risk factors and aiding with medication adherence in patients for better results.
- Blood Pressure Control: Helping Patients take Their Medicine – Here the CDC brings attention to the fact that at least 25% of adults, ages 65 or older, with Medicare Part D prescription drug insurance are not taking their blood pressure medication as directed. Here the CDC calls for action on the part of the healthcare community to improve medication adherence for better results, pointing towards pharmacists as an excellent source of information in their patient facing role.
- Vital Signs: Disparities in Antihypertensive Medication Nonadherence Among Medicare Part D Beneficiaries – A 2014 study on nonadherence to blood pressure medication and how that nonadherence is represented across geographic, racial-ethnic, and other disparities among Medicare Part D beneficiaries.
- CDC Guides Promote Involvement of Pharmacists to Manage Hypertension – APhA article outlining the CDC’s resources aimed at placing community pharmacists squarely in the treatment and prevention of high blood pressure. This article outlines many of the resources above and serves a great resource overview.
Pharmacists and Immunizations
- Pharmacists Play Crucial Part in Measles Prevention – With some resurgence of measles occuring in association with international travel pharmacists play a large role in educating patients about the importance and effectiveness of the Measles Mumps Rubella (MMR) Vaccine and can use their role to help encourage patients to vaccinate themselves and their children following the vaccine guidelines.
Continuing Education Resources from the CDC
- STEADI: The Pharmacist’s Role in Older Adult Fall Prevention – This continuing education resource from the CDC is available and valid until March 24, 2020. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed the Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths, and Injuries (STEADI) initiative to provide sought after tools and resources to help pharmacists and other healthcare providers. As the leading cause of both fatal and non-fatal injuries among people 65 years and older falls pose a serious risk to the health and independence of older adults. Pharmacists play a critical role in fall prevention with their expert knowledge of medications and their ability to communicate that knowledge through their accessibility.
Other Information
- Methods & Resources For Engaging Pharmacy Partners – This resource is geared toward public health departments as a way of engaging pharmacy partners to utilize their services to aid with public health concerns. The publication of this article aims to help establish or expand pharmacy services as part of public health initiatives; provide resources to help public health departments better understand pharmacy practices and pharmacy health care initiatives; and inform health departments on resources provided by pharmacies for advancing public health initiatives and services.
- Characteristics of Pharmacists – 1978-1979 Survey – A blast from the past. See how the pharmacy profession has changed by taking a look at this survey report from the 1970’s.