FROM THE TEAM
Our Anti-Prevention Culture
You know the old saying, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”? I wonder when we in Canada stopped believing in that adage. It doesn’t take a lot of looking into our employee drug plan spending to realize how far we have removed prevention from our approach to personal healthcare. In the list of the top 50 drugs dispensed in Canada in 2005, drugs for the treatment of high cholesterol, a condition largely self-induced through poor lifestyle choices, were ranked 1st (Lipitor™, 11.24 million prescriptions) and 20th (Crestor®, 2.42 million prescriptions). The number of prescriptions for drugs used for the management of heartburn, also often a self-inflicted condition, were ranked 8th (Pantoloc®, 3.88 million), 24th (Losec®, 2.36 million), 25th (Pariet™, 2.32 million), 34th (Nexium®, 1.94 million) and 38th (Prevacid®, 1.75 million). In total, these drugs make up over 25 million prescriptions in Canada in a single year. So, what is being done about prevention?
In this issue of Cubic Health Monthly, the article, “Flu Shot in the Workplace” provides an upfront discussion on a workplace health intervention with proven health and economic benefit. This simple and effective workplace initiative can reduce lost workdays and absenteeism, ineffective workdays and presenteeism, and visits to the hospital. Yet evidence points to the underutilization of vaccinations. Why?
I maintain an active patient-care pharmacist license through my work at a small hospital in rural Manitoba. The influenza vaccination program of hospital employees is currently underway, and the goal this year is to vaccinate 40% of the staff. 40%. That’s less than half of a staff made up largely by healthcare practitioners and ancillary healthcare service workers who provide direct care for the sick and the elderly. Less than half the staff will take the time to get the flu shot, which may prevent them from getting sick, or more importantly, prevent them from transmitting the flu to a patient who could die of it.
What does this say about our culture? Do we live in a culture of anti-prevention? I think it is a reasonable question, given that most of our resource dollars are dedicated to treating or managing symptoms of various diseases, while little focus is given to preventing them.
To pass along any comments on Cubic Health Monthly, or to see back issues of our publication, please visit our website at http://www.cubichealth.ca.
Sincerely,
Kyle MacNair
Vice President, Clinical
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The Flu Shot in the Workplace
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