The Role Of A Pharmacist In U.S. Travel Health
In an article published in an issue of Advancing Public Health Through Community Pharmacy Practice, Keri Hurley-Kim, Health Sciences Associate Clinical Professor at the UC Irvine School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, discusses new guidance for pharmacists in travel health practice related to COVID-19.
In the review, The U.S. Travel Health Pharmacists’ Role in a Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Era, researchers discuss the need to incorporate additional information into pre-travel consultations. Travel health is a practice that offers pre-travel counseling, immunizations, and health advice for those planning to travel out of the U.S. This article reviews additional COVID-19 recommendations, including country-specific entry requirements and protective measures (vaccines, masks, rapid testing, etc.).
Travel health is dedicated to preventative and self-treatment measures (e.g., vaccines, antimalarials, antibiotics for traveler’s diarrhea, etc.) that are prescribed, administered, or recommended before international travel, most often to developing countries. Pharmacists also follow up with patients upon return and refer them to primary care, infectious disease, or other providers as needed for any illness experienced during or after travel.
Pharmacists can help increase access and awareness of the need for travel health services to ensure that patients remain healthy and avoid acquiring diseases while traveling abroad. While there is little published work available on pharmacy or pharmacist-provided travel health services in the U.S., outcomes from published studies are positive, which further supports the role of a pharmacist in travel health practice.
Hurley-Kim emphasizes the adoption of COVID-19 vaccination, testing, education, and treatment into pharmacy-based travel health practices. With the volatility of COVID-19 surges, testing, symptom screening, and vaccination requirements for tourists and citizens may change frequently.
Pharmacists and travel health service providers should know where to find up-to-date and complete information to ensure travelers meet requirements and protect themselves and the people living in the countries they visit against COVID-19 infection.
The emergence of telehealth and its adoption during the pandemic is also essential; it can improve accessibility to travel health services, which are historically underutilized by the traveling public.
This article was an international collaborative effort between U.S. and U.K. pharmacists that included four Orange County high school students involved in an academic summer camp promoting STEM fields. The students are included as authors on the paper.