What is advocacy, and why is it important?

Why?

Advocacy is a way that pharmacists and even pharmacy students can bring attention to certain policies and causes that can greatly impact our profession. We can either be proactive for the future we want to see our profession become, or let other people decide our roles for us. In order to pick our own role and the roles of future of pharmacists, we must to engage in the major issues around us and work with our governing bodies to better inform and bring about change. State and national-level legislators hold the key to various locks such as Medicare/Medicaid billing reform and provider status.

Where Can I Start?

Now, each of us as individuals can’t compete with the ability of professional organizations to manage information: it’s one of their primary jobs, and for us as pharmacists (and future pharmacists), it’s a professional add-on. The simplest answer is that we shouldn't reinvent the wheel. Every organization breaks the information down for us: APhA, ASHP, AACP, ASCP, ACCP, and most others you can list will have an arm devoted to it. Organizations on the state level are important, too: your local boards of pharmacy play a huge role in your responsibilities. Simply Google your state's pharmacy association and follow the links for their advocacy section. Each state varies on how to locate state legislators: your state pharmacy association will have a walkthrough on their website. This is not only a great starting point for information, they should help motivate you as to why, as well: they all make very good case for what they represent.

Take an hour out of your day to pick the organization(s) that most align with your interests, and start following them. They all take great care to source their information and stay up to date, and a little bit of work up front can mean it's only a matter of minutes every two weeks to stay informed.

How Do I Advocate?
Advocating can be as simple as clicking send on a pre-made form to your legislator. To learn more about the different ways you can advocate, read here.

If there's anything left unclear, don't hesitate to comment at the bottom and we'll be glad to help you out!