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Pharmacist teams help educate and immunize public

Pharmacy Regulation Resource, February 12, 2004

Pharmacists can distribute medication, educate victims about disease and treatments, and staff clinics during a natural disaster or terrorist attack. The National Pharmacist Response Team (NPRT) gives pharmacists an opportunity to help out should their services be needed in an emergency.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security oversees 10 NPRTs throughout the United States. Pharmacists may join the teams to help staff immunization clinics or medication distribution centers after a terrorist attack or major natural disaster.

For example, if an anthrax attack occurred in Boston, the federal government could activate the Region I NPRT to hand out ciprofloxacin and educate patients about anthrax and how to use the medication, says Lt. Cmdr. Scott Giberson, PhC, PharmD, NPRT coordinator with the U.S. Public Health Service.

A mass smallpox immunization would also require pharmacists' help, says Mitchel Rothholz, RPh, vice president of professional practice for the American Pharmacists Association. Pharmacists would check patients' arms several days after they receive the vaccine to see if the treatment is working.

Any member of the NPRT assisting in giving out the smallpox vaccine would initially receive training and immunization because it contains a strain of live virus, Giberson says.

For more information on the NPRT, check out http://ndms.fema.gov/nprt.html.

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