Pharmacists and Medical Missions Update

An editorial on pharmacists and medical missions appeared in the 2017 September issue of Hospital Pharmacy. ¹ The article discussed 6 reasons why all pharmacists and student pharmacists should participate in medical missions:

1. Develop an appreciation for the US health care system.

   International mission trips provide attendees insight into the health care disparities and insufficiencies in other countries.

2. Observe that the pharmacy education and training you received in school and on the job provide you with the skills to do so much more than what the law in most states allows.

   Apart from typical pharmacy functions (eg, formulary development and acquisition, therapeutic substitution based on medication availability, storage, compounding, regulatory issues and patient counseling), pharmacists can also assist with diagnostics and patient-specific medication selection, triaging including taking patient histories, and clinic workflow considerations in makeshift clinic areas.

3. Witness unique diseases and conditions.

   Many of the diseases and conditions will be the same as in the United States, but you probably will experience unique diseases and other conditions that you might have only studied in school or read in a book.

4. Teach you to be innovative and think outside the box.

   A lack of resources forces participants to find innovative approaches to find solutions to problems.

5. A means to experience interprofessional team work.

   There is a great need on the mission field which requires everyone to collaborate to meet the needs of the people being served.

6. To give back for the blessings you have received.

   As a pharmacist, you have unique skills and abilities that are needed on the mission field to provide quality health care to those in need.

The 23rd edition of the prestigious pharmacy publication, Remington: The Science and Practice of Pharmacy will be available in July 2020. ² Remington has been a pioneer in pharmacy resources for over 100 years. This new edition will include a chapter on Pharmacy Involvement in Medical Missions. The chapter provides information to assist pharmacists and pharmacy students who are interested in leading or participating in medical missions. Information and resources are available to cover all aspects of a trip such as preplanning (eg, travel considerations, team disease prevention, in-country logistics) and health care logistics (eg, formulary development, prescription and nonprescription medication and supplies acquisition, compounding, regulatory issues, storage, transportation, workflow management), team dynamics and team building, and integrating medical missions into pharmacy education (eg, student roles, syllabi, rubrics, leadership development, and assessment methods).

If you are at all interested in exploring the possibility of serving on or leading a medical mission team, the resources available in this chapter in Remington will provide you with the necessary tools for a successful medical mission trip. Participation in medical missions not only provides much needed health care services to those in need, but often the participants benefit even more, and most would agree that they are forever changed by the experience.