Truong H, Bresette JL, and Sellers JA. The Pharmacist in Public Health: Education, Applications, and Opportunities. American Pharmacists Association; 2010, 537pp, $54.95 (hardback), ISBN 9781582121307.
Truong H, Bresette JL, and Sellers JA. The Pharmacist in Public Health: Education, Applications, and Opportunities. American Pharmacists Association; 2010, 537pp, $54.95 (hardback), ISBN 9781582121307. Traditionally, the profession of pharmacy has been considered an isolated field. The role of pharmacists in public health was never clearly defined as there is not a sufficient amount of textbooks, courses, and training programs that emphasize this area of the profession. (1) The Pharmacists in Public Health: Education, Application, and Opportunities (2010), written by pharmacists, serves as a reference and resource for all individuals interested in the role of pharmacists and public health. The main goals of the book are to alert, educate, promote, and empower the reader to participate in public health opportunities. Because of the broad scope of public health, 59 authors and 40 reviewers contributed in completing the chapters based on their experiences in many different areas of pharmacy practice settings including academia, and local, state, and federal organizations. The objectives include introducing the interchanging relationship between pharmacist and public health, explaining the demand and available positions for pharmacist within public health, and encouraging educators and student pharmacists to be more involve in public health. The textbook comprises 4 sections that connect and build on each other: Reviewing: Pharmacy in Public Health, Integrating: Pharmacist's Role in Public Health, Developing: Public Health Pharmacists, and Educating and Serving: Pharmacy in Public Health. There are 22 chapters that are divided unevenly between the 4 sections; with each chapter written by different authors. Each chapter begins with the objectives section that is numbered and ends with the reference section. What catches the reader's attention is each chapter's thesis statement, which is boxed, highlighted and appears immediately after the objective section; this gives the readers a broad but precise idea about the most important point that will be discussed in the chapter. Tables, figures, and examples are used consistently throughout the book with titles, explanatory captions, and references correctly cited. The authors integrate "sidebar" boxes throughout the chapter in which they provide true cases and stories of advocate professionals related to the topics that are being discussed within the text. Another interesting point is that toward the end of each chapter of any topic, there are 2 sections that are entitled "Actions for Change Today" and "Conclusion", which are normally appear at the end of the book. This is creative, because these sections provide readers who are interested recommendations of what should be done in future studies. The first section of The Pharmacists in Public Health: Education, Application, and Opportunities is composed of 4 chapters (1 through 4). Chapter 1 introduces the interchanging relationship between pharmacists and public health with regard to education, workforce demand, and pharmacists projected roles. Chapter 2 outlines the history and the evolution of both the American pharmacy profession and public health, as well as identifying the major laws that impact the practice of pharmacy particularly in pharmaceutical care. …