Pharmacies guide you through the health care system

Compared to the rest of the world, people in Austria are getting old. But you don’t really get old healthily. But the good news is that local pharmacists can help solve this problem. There has been a long-standing relationship of trust between the population and the more than 7,000 pharmacists.

Local pilots across the healthcare system
Together with the health hotline 1450, pharmacists can be used as additional local guides for standardized patient support through the health care system. Anyone who comes to one of the more than 1,450 pharmacies around the corner is the first extensive personal adviceprovided with over-the-counter medications and, if necessary, referred to medical facilities such as ordinations and hospitals.

In a pharmacy as a so-called health one-stop-shop, the next logical step would be an immediate telemedical consultation, directly on site in designated consultation rooms, with subsequent medication dispensing based on the doctor’s prescription.

Wide range of services
The recent crises have shown how important it is that people can count on stable and reliable health care from pharmacies at all times. With their infrastructure and professional expertise, they guarantee high-quality and fair public services. The previously untapped supply potential of pharmacies is large.

This involves modern health tests, including those for cardiovascular diseases and infectious diseases, but also screenings for early detection of diabetes, for example. With targeted preventive measures from the pharmacy, people stay healthy longer and diseases can be detected early. This helps to reduce the pressure on the healthcare system and save costs in the long term.

Other future topics
The supply potential of pharmacies is even greater. For example, pharmacists can provide support in disease management, the structured support program for chronically ill people, and thus improve the health of those affected. Another future topic is the optimization of the total medication of people with previous illnesses, the so-called medication analysis.

The focus during pharmaceutical education and further training is precisely on this area. Pharmacists can contribute to even better health promotion with their specialist knowledge and personal empathy. But also professional support of newly prescribed medicines for certain underlying diseases, the so-called New Medicine Services, is an issue.