IPA Joins National Campaign to Educate Public on Pharmacist's Role

• By: IPA
• On: 03/11/2019 15:07:35
• In: IPA Updates
• Comments: 0

IPA has joined Pharmacists for Healthier Lives – a coalition of national and state pharmacy organizations coming together in a coordinated effort to raise the collective profile of the pharmacy profession. The coalition, led by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, has created a national awareness campaign to highlight the important role of pharmacists in helping people live their healthiest, happiest lives.
 
The IPA Board of Trustee approved financial and promotional support for the campaign as it aligns with the association's strategic plan to enhance public perception and awareness regarding the value of the pharmacy profession and its role on the healthcare team.
 

The Message

In order to change the general public's perception of pharmacists, Pharmacists for Healthier Lives sought to develop a unified message on the role of the pharmacist in patient care. Market research identified these four key messages deemed essential to change the perception of pharmacists:
 

1. Pharmacists are easily accessible.
2. Pharmacists help to ensure the best patient outcomes.
3. Pharmacists are highly educated.
4. Pharmacists are essential members of the healthcare team.

 
Through these key messages, the campaign tagline “Pharmacists. Accessible. Knowledgeable. Indispensable.” was created. The messaging conveys the benefits a pharmacist provides patients including support when dealing with health and the healthcare system, confidence that their medication is the best option available, and availability of a knowledgeable healthcare professional.
 

The Campaign

With this messaging framework, a website, and Facebook page in place, the campaign was developed with a three-pronged approach.
 

• Public Relations – Pharmacists for Healthier Lives' agency will reach out to the media on a regular basis and monitor news coverage to make sure the voice of the pharmacist is heard on timely issues like opioids, drug pricing, patient care, and access.
• Paid Social Media – The campaign will use sponsored ads on Facebook to deliver key messages to target audiences and drive traffic to the Pharmacists for Healthier Lives website and Facebook page.
• Organic Social Media – The campaign will post on its Facebook page to engage users the “like” and “follow” the page, encouraging them to share the posts to help spread the message of the campaign.

 
The campaign launched in October and since then has reached over 4 million individuals on Facebook and the campaign video has had 8 million views and more than 10 million impressions.
 

Spread the Word!

Here is how you can get involved in the success of the Pharmacist for Healthier Lives campaign:
 

• Like/follow the Pharmacists for Healthier Lives Facebook page and share posts to your own social media feeds.
• Tell friends, family, patients and colleagues to visit www.pharmacistsforhealthierlives.org
• Share these campaign videos on Facebook.
• Tell your stories as they relate to the campaign's key messages in blogs and social media and use the #indispensable hashtag (IPA can help with this too!)

 
IPA will continue to provide updates on the campaign and share posts and other opportunities for members to help educate the public.