The Kinetics of Pharmaco-Politics: Distribution - Doing Your PART to Get the Message Out!

by Pang Hang, 2017 Pharm.D. candidate, Wayne State University Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

Importance of Pharmacy in Patient Care

As a student pharmacist, one of the questions I am asked the most from friends, family and others who I meet is, “Do you want to work in a hospital or a pharmacy?” My answer to this question has evolved over time. I remember the pharmacist from the clinic I went to as a child, the pharmacists I worked with while volunteering in a hospital and the pharmacists I saw in the many stores with pharmacies. Those pharmacists were pretty much my only exposure to the profession of pharmacy. I would guess that this is probably the only exposure most people have to pharmacists as well. So, when I started pharmacy school, I thought pharmacists only practiced in hospital, clinic or community pharmacies.

Before I entered pharmacy school, I thought pharmacists played a valuable role in society. However, it’s only now that I’m in pharmacy school that I’m finding out how all the complexities of patient care interact. Student pharmacists, like me, are being taught the patient care model where communication with the patient is crucial to getting the best health outcomes from medication therapy. Yet, in my opinion, when I observe pharmacies in action where most of society sees us, in the community, so many prescriptions are filled without this patient-pharmacist interaction. This is a concern to me because it seems that many times patients don’t see what pharmacists are capable of and what they do (beyond communication) to make sure their medications are safe and effective such as checking for drug interactions. There are some situations where laws create barriers to getting some of the information needed to make sure a medication is safe for a patient to use. For example, one crucial component to check for drug interactions is a complete medication history, which could be obtained if the pharmacist had access to pertinent medical information necessary to prevent interactions.

If you’re passionate about issues like this, like me, you can try to do something about it by talking with your legislator. Talking with your community leader is critical to the distribution of knowledge.

Taking the Leap and Talking with your Legislator 

Your knowledge and experience are what legislators need when they are making decisions about health care laws, especially those effecting pharmacy practice and medications. Health care and the practice of pharmacy are highly regulated by laws that tell us what we can and cannot do. Some laws regulate how we are paid and what we are to be paid for; others can either limit us or permit us to do what we have been trained to do. This is a crucial time to get involved. Health care reform is happening with or without us. I’ve already seen many law changes that affect the profession of pharmacy and many are still being talked about. 

None of the newly-elected Michigan legislators are pharmacists and likely have a limited knowledge about how pharmacists can help patients, but every pharmacist can give their legislator some insight. There are various ways to contact your legislators. It starts with identifying whom you should contact: either the State Senator or Representative or Congressional leader. If you don’t know who your legislators are, you can visit the MPA Web site at www.MichiganPharmacists.org/advocacy/legislators to find out! I made contact with my legislators through e-mail and they replied that I’m welcome to call them. That sounds pretty inviting to me!

Advocacy as Medicine

What may stop some people from starting communication with their legislators is thinking that their one voice is not enough. I’ll admit, I used to think that too. 

However, what if your voice could be one of many with the same purpose?

Think of Michigan as the body, each district as parts of the body and your voice as the medicine. If you speak with your legislator on one issue, your “medicine” may only treat that one part of the body and your medicine may not distribute very far, unless you’re really convincing. But, the more pharmacists we have speaking up in other districts on that same issue, the more “medicine” could reach those other parts of the body and really make a change in the whole body. The MPA Pharmacy Advocacy Response Team (PART) was created to reach out to as many legislators as we can; to help distribute the medicine and affect the whole body by bringing many voices of pharmacy together. PART is composed of pharmacists and others who want to advocate for pharmacy. You, your friends, your family or your patients can advocate for pharmacy. I think the more people, the better.

Advocacy starts with building relationships. Whether or not you have an issue you really want to discuss, you should still contact your legislator so when you do have a health care-related issue, they’ll know who you are.

How to Get Involved in Advocacy

If you are looking for examples of what to write, and how to address them when writing, calling or meeting face to face, the MPA Web site http://www.michiganpharmacists.org/ is easy to use and provides a variety of resources. Under the “Advocate For Pharmacy” tab, there is a link to discover current legislation that could impact pharmacy, including printable summaries you can take with you to leave with your legislator. There is also a resource that shares how to contact and set up a meeting with your legislator, including ideas to make the most of your time. Tips on how to conduct a successful visit are found on the Web site too.

After your visit, share your experience with MPA by completing a Legislative Visit report, found here. If you had a successful visit, you should share your story so that others can be successful too. You could: 

• write an article
• put up pictures or posters
•  post on your Web site or Facebook page 

Let people know that an issue is important to you. It might be important to them too, but they just didn’t know it. 

Consider making a difference by distributing your message with the MPA PART. Advocacy is more effective when we reach out to legislators. Pharmacists have the knowledge and experience that legislators need to make better laws that protect patients when it comes to pharmacy. If your legislator thinks that pharmacists only practice in hospitals and pharmacies, and doesn’t understand the complexities of what it takes to do your job, they will make decisions based off of their understanding. Make your voice count with others, especially by letting others know the outcome of your contact. Whether you had a good or bad experience, others can help if they know how to follow up. That’s what a pharmacy advocacy team is for!