The NIH is offering a toolkit on COPD diagnosis and management specifically for pharmacists, reports the American Pharmacists Association.

Available upon request through an online form, the toolkit is a 9- by 9-inch container with fact sheets for patients diagnosed with COPD or who are at risk for developing the disease. The fact sheets help patients get the most from a visit with a health care provider. The toolkit also offers resources that can help guide pharmacists to provide educational and behavioral counseling to patients.

Research has found that pharmacists commonly interact with COPD patients, according to Antonello Punturieri, MD, PhD, program director and medical officer in the division of lung diseases at NHLBI. Most pharmacists see one to two cases of COPD a week, and many indicate that they interact with COPD patients on a daily basis, he added.

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