Is travel health a new destination for pharmacy practice and business? An examination of revenue opportunities from pre-travel consultations

摘要

Travel medicine is a relatively new field of practice, with the first conference on international travel medicine held in 1988 and the leading organization for health care professionals practising in travel medicine-the International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM)-founded in 1991. What is even more recent is the venture of pharmacists into this specialty field-largely supported by a scope of practice in a number of provinces authorizing activities such as administering vaccines and initiating prescriptions. Involvement in travel health by pharmacists can cover a broad spectrum, from offering basic services, such as advice on over-the-counter products, through to administering travel vaccinations and performing pre-travel consultations. Regardless of a pharmacists level of involvement, research supports a role for pharmacists in providing travel-related care for patients. Whereas an exhaustive review of the literature is outside the scope of this paper, an overview of the evidence and potential roles for pharmacists has been published. Pharmacist involvement in travel health, often studied in the context of a pharmacist-performed pre-travel consultation with recommendations communicated to a prescriber, has resulted in strong adherence by patients to recommended therapies, high patient satisfaction and more cost-effective care than consultations performed by nurses, as a result of less use of unnecessary vaccinations and medications. A recently published study of pharmacist-performed pre-travel consultations in Alberta provides further evidence of patient adherence and satisfaction.