The Future of public health
The role of public health is becoming more global, and the international nature of health promotion and disease prevention is often painfully obvious. The tracking of the West Nile virus in the United States showed a consistent progression, often identified by the evaluation of dead birds. The incidence of mad cow disease has increased and spread to other countries despite the aggressive stance taken by public health and animal health workers. The deadly H5N1 bird flu has progressed across the world despite efforts to limit the disease. Millions of chickens exposed to the virus have been killed and disposed of, the importation of bird products form infected areas has been curtailed, and governments have worked to help other countries limit the disease before it spreads even more. These diseases present very serious challenges to our healthcare and public health delivery systems.
A discussion of the future of public health includes the 2002 report form the Institute of Medicine, The Future of the Public's Health in the 21 st Century. This report followed its earlier landmark report in 1998(Committee on Assuring the Health of the Public in the 21 st Century, 2002; Institute of Medicine, 1998). Many of the concerns expressed about the U.S. public health systems in 2002 were demonstrated in the events preceding and following hurricane Katrina in August of 2005. These concerns included a lack of training and support for the public health workforce, problems with communications and communication systems, inadequate emergency response capabilities, and the lack of access to essential public health services. It is strikingly clear that the public health needs of a community, as underlined by a disaster, are far greater than hospitals and healthcare workers. Immediate survival need like drinking water and food, followed by shelter and sanitation, are at the heart of the public health needs of the community and necessary to support our traditional healthcare system as well as the emergency response and volunteer personnel. We begin to understand that healthcare workers who do heroic things, such as remaining with patients who cannot be evacuated, are no longer able to serve the broader community and can eventually become the victim of another emergency rescue operation. Our public healthcare delivery systems are struggling to find way to cope with the challenges of the future
Historical perspectives
Form a historical perspective, society's health problems have always been linked to such areas as transmissible disease, the physical environment including sanitation, safe food and water, appropriate medical care, the management of those with disabilities, and the impact of poverty (Rosen, 1993). The emphasis on various public health issues changes over time, but it is the health promotion and disease prevention of a society that ties all these areas together. Rosen's first chapter discusses the water systems and sewage system in early societies 4,000 years ago. In many developed countries, we now take these services for granted except in national catastrophes such as a flood, hurricane, earthquake, or tidal wave.
In the past 60 years, there have been dramatic shifts in the health priorities in the United States. Sixty years ago, people were excited about a polio vaccine that would keep their children safe from this crippling disease. They made sure that their children had a smallpox vaccination because this disease, although rare, was very devastating. The family's pediatrician also made house calls when the child was it.
Since that the time, there have been elaborate effort at preventing chronic problem like heart disease and cancer. HIV/AIDS was discovered and treatments have been developed. Partly through advertisement, the public activity in older couples, incontinence, and depression. Today, babies are safer without the smallpox vaccination because of the small risk of the vaccination itself. One of the most striking changes is the vast amount of information that is now available to the individual about diseases and treatments. Health care is much more technologically sophisticated, but, alas, doctors seldom make house calls any more.
The replacement of fee-for-service health care with today's managed care arrangement has an impact on our personal health decisions and on public health. The impact has been much more that reducing house calls by doctors. Managed care programs were designed to help reduce the striking increases in the costs of health care. They have decreased the length of stay at hospitals, decreased unnecessary procedures, and provided incentives for healthcare workers to reduce costs while providing quality care. From a public health standpoint, managed care programs are more successful if they can keep their members healthy. As a consequence, some plans have taken very active roles in health promotion and disease prevention in such areas as well-baby checkups, immunizations, asthma control, and diabetes management. From a pharmacy perspective, the various plans have formularies, which list the drugs with the lowest copayments or exclude some drugs. These can limit the cost of medications and help direct patients and providers to proven therapies. Unfortunately, managed care can also limit choices and coverage as a part of the cost saving strategies For a further discussion of managed care.
Although one of the more striking changes in the roles of public health professionals has been the need to adopt a global perspective, another change has been the increasing number of individuals with health-related occupations who need to be part of the public's healthcare preparedness. Some of these provide care, some serve in support roles, some are involved in the paperwork and billing, and others are in related professions such as the police, public work, and transportation. The federal government has also increased people and dollars that are targeted for public health activities. To have an interest in public health often implies the need to remain timely on current events, be active in related political areas, and develop a network of support people in a wide variety of professions.
Prevention and public health
At the national level, healthy people 2010 (US DHHS, 2000) has been one of the most visible efforts to focus the nation on health promotion and disease prevention. It is a project that has collaboratively developed a series of national objective that are focused on prevention. Published in 2000, it uses a series of leading health indicators with objective for 2010. The areas of these leading health indicators include many that are of importance to pharmacy, including tobacco use, substance abuse, responsible sexual behavior, mental health, immunization, physical activity, and access to health care. In the sexual behavior category, the goal for those in grades 9 through 12 is for 95% to be either sexually inactive or to use a condom if sexually active. In the immunization area, the report sets goals for reducing or eliminating those diseases that can be prevented with a vaccine, such as 80-90% of children receiving vaccines like those for polio and measles/mumps/rubella. Healthy people 2010 is based upon assessable behavior or activities that should lead to better health outcomes for the population.
One of the pharmacy organizations that has looked at the role of pharmacists in Healthy People 2010 is the American College of Clinical pharmacy (Calis et al., 2004). In the area of immunization and infectious disease, the report recommended expanding the number of states that recognize pharmacists as immunizers, providing additional research documenting the value of pharmacists in this role, and increased emphasis in providing training to pharmacists. The American Pharmacists Association has a long history of supporting pharmacists and the immunization process. The American Society of Health system pharmacists has its own health initiatives and provides a number of resources related to pharmacists and immunizations. Referring to the case at the start of the chapter, James would benefit from the support of these organizations in pharmacy
The educational outcomes from the Center for the Advancement of Pharmaceutical Education (CAPE, 2004) list three broad areas for pharmacy educators to concentrate on in the PharmD program. Public health is one of those three areas; systems management and pharmaceutical care are the other two. Similarly, the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NABP, 2006) includes about 11% of the exam in area 3, provide healthcare information and promote public health. The other two areas are area, pharmacotherapy and therapeutic outcomes, and area 2, which deal with the dispensing process. Both in the education and licensure of pharmacists, public health plays an important role. For additional reading on education and training of pharmacists in public health.