Monday, October 8, 2012
School of Pharmacy offers health screenings and medication reviews
PRINCESS ANNE, MD- (Oct. 8, 2012) The School of Pharmacy and Health Professions at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore is hosting health screenings and medication review sessions in observance of October as American Pharmacists Month.
Activities take place Oct. 24, from 12-2 p.m. in Somerset Hall on the university campus. Pharmacy students and faculty from the school will perform blood pressure screenings, diabetes and stroke risk assessments, body fat and body mass index analyses and brown bag medication reviews.
“American Pharmacists Month is a great way to educate the public about how pharmacists can help them get the most benefit from their medicine,” said Nicholas R. Blanchard, dean of UMES’ School of Pharmacy and Health Professions. “This event on campus is just one way that our student pharmacists and faculty members are doing just that.”
Brown-bag programs encourage consumers – especially older adults – to gather up all their prescriptions, over-the-counter medications, as well as vitamins and herbal supplements, and take them to a pharmacist in bag for review, said Dr. Miriam Purnell, assistant dean for student affairs and director of UMES’ Drug Information Center.
“The fact that many patients see multiple doctors and may even go to multiple pharmacies contributes to confusion about the proper use of medications and may lead to adverse events due to medication errors,” Purnell said. The goal of the program, she added, is to promote better patient/pharmacist communications to identify duplicate, outdated or poorly stored medications and to solve some of the problems of taking multiple medications.
American Pharmacists Month strives to educate the public and policymakers about the role pharmacists play in the reduction of overall health care costs and the safe and effective management of medications, Purnell said. “Know your pharmacist, know your medicine,” is the theme for the 2012 observance. UMES’ events are free and open to the public. They are held in collaboration with the Million Hearts Campaign, Healthy People 2020 and Script Your Future.
Call 410-621-3777 for more information.
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Gail Stephens, assistant director, UMES Office of Public Relations, 410-651-7580,gcstephens@umes.edu.
Bill Robinson, director, UMES Office of Public Relations, 410-621-2355,wrobinson3@umes.edu.
