Pharmacy travel health services: current perspectives and future prospects

Abstract

Rates of international travel are increasing annually, with particular growth observed in travel to Southeast Asia and to emerging economies. While all patients traveling across geographic regions are recommended to receive a pre-travel consultation to consider their individual risks, many do not, or receive care and recommendations that are not consistent with current evidence-based guidelines. As experts in drug therapy, and given the largely preventive nature of most travel health recommendations, pharmacists are well suited to help address this need. Pharmacists generally possess a high degree of knowledge and confidence with more commonly observed travel health topics in community practice such as travelers’ diarrhea; however, training in more specialized travel health topics such as travel vaccinations and traveling at altitude has generally been lacking from pharmacy curricula. Pharmacists with an interest in providing pre-travel consultations are encouraged to pursue additional training in this specialty and to consider Certificate in Travel Health designation from the International Society of Travel Medicine. Future roles for pharmacists to include the prescribing of medications and vaccines for travel and the in-pharmacy administration of travel vaccinations may improve patient access to pre-travel consultations and recommended preventive measures, improving the health of travelers and potentially reducing the burden of communicable disease worldwide. Pharmacists providing travel care to patients are also reminded to consider noninfectious risks of illness and injury abroad and to counsel patients on strategies to minimize these risks in addition to providing drug and vaccine recommendations.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices towards Infectious Diseases Related to Travel of Community Pharmacists in Italy

“…Several investigations on the knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of the general population and physicians regarding travel medicine have been conducted in different countries [4][5][6], and, to date, there is also research on the involvement of community pharmacists in this field [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. This is of utmost importance in order to provide important information for planning training interventions targeted towards these professionals to positively affect travelers' health.…”

Australian Pharmacists’ Perceptions and Practices in Travel Health

“…International travel is on the increase, especially to destinations in Asia, Africa and other emerging economies and the associated health risks of these destinations highlights the need for pre-travel health consultations [ 1 , 2 ]. Despite this, many travellers do not obtain pre-travel health advice before travelling overseas and, those who do, mainly seek advice from their general practitioner, a travel health clinic or specialist, or the internet [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ].…”

“…Houle, in a review on current and future prospects for travel health services, indicated the role that pharmacist have been playing in ensuring the cold chain for vaccinations has placed them in a good position to extend their scope of practice from administering just the influenza vaccine to travel vaccines [ 2 ]. This has already been adopted in some Canadian jurisdictions [ 2 ].…”

Development and Testing of a Clinical Practice Framework for Pharmacists to Assess Patients’ Travel-Related Risks: The 5W Approach to Travel Risk Identification

“…Related to pharmacists' need for further training or education in travel medicine, the complexity of travel medicine (for example, regional differences in disease epidemiology, outbreaks, and changes in resistance patterns for infectious diseases) and need for individualized care is noted by pharmacists. Many preliminary studies have identified this barrier and suggest that a gap in training in pharmacy school curricula is a contributor [15][16][17][18]. Pharmacy schools across the US and Canada do not have robust travel medicine competencies built into their core curricula, apart from immunization training, which tends to focus on influenza and other routine vaccinations [15][16][17][18].…”

“…Many preliminary studies have identified this barrier and suggest that a gap in training in pharmacy school curricula is a contributor [15][16][17][18]. Pharmacy schools across the US and Canada do not have robust travel medicine competencies built into their core curricula, apart from immunization training, which tends to focus on influenza and other routine vaccinations [15][16][17][18]. This lack of exposure during pharmacists' training years as students likely impacts the provision of these services upon licensure.…”