Pharmacists to offer advice on blood-pressure management

If you have high blood pressure, don’t be surprised if your pharmacist doles out advice about how to control it.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched the “Team Up. Pressure Down.” awareness campaign that encourages pharmacists to discuss with their customers methods for monitoring and controlling blood-pressure levels.

The initiative is designed to help pharmacists to reinforce the advice that a patient already gets from his/her doctor, such as the importance of adhering to the doctor’s regimen of prescription medication, says Dr. Janet S. Wright of CDC.

Pharmacists also will provide CDC-approved educational pamphlets, blood-pressure journals and wallet-size cards that help consumers to monitor their blood pressure daily.

According to a report that CDC released Aug. 29, roughly 67 million adults in the United States has high blood pressure, and 36 million adults who have high blood pressure don’t manage it properly.