Pharmacists for Safe Care and Healthier Futures: Students Turn Evidence into Patient Advocacy
As part of the School of Pharmacy’s celebration of World Patient Safety Day and World Pharmacist Day, the Lebanese American University (LAU) School of Pharmacy hosted a student-led poster advocacy session under the theme “Pharmacists for Safe Care and Healthier Futures.” The activity brought together the two complementary themes of the occasions—safe care for noncommunicable diseases and the contribution of pharmacists to healthier futures—while providing students with an opportunity to translate evidence, research, and professional knowledge into meaningful advocacy messages.
The poster session engaged P2 students in developing advocacy initiatives addressing the safe care of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Working in teams, students were challenged to communicate with different audiences and demonstrate how pharmacists can contribute to safer, more patient-centered care. The activity was designed not only to strengthen students’ knowledge of NCD care, but also to develop their skills in advocacy, teamwork, research, communication, and professional presentation.
A central component of the activity focused on advocacy for people living with or at risk of noncommunicable diseases and their caregivers, placing patients and their needs at the center of the students’ messages.
Nine teams developed posters addressing different patient populations and health priorities:
- Poster 1 – Patients and caregivers: “Know your medicines. Engage your pharmacist. Stay safe.”
- Poster 2 – Patients with cardiovascular diseases: “Protect your heart. Partner with your pharmacist.”
- Poster 3 – Patients with stroke: “Stay Ahead of Stroke. Partner with your pharmacist.”
- Poster 4 – Patients with cancer: “Safer cancer care includes your pharmacist.”
- Poster 5 – Patients with diabetes: “Take Control of Diabetes Care. Partner with Your Pharmacist.”
- Poster 6 – Patients with chronic respiratory conditions: “Every Breath Matters. Partner with Your Pharmacist.”
- Poster 7- Health practitioners: “Empower Pharmacists. Strengthen Team-Based NCD Care”
- Poster 8- To Health care facility managers: “Empower Pharmacists. Build Safer NCD Care Systems”
- Poster 9- To Policy Makers and Healthcare leaders: “Empower Pharmacists. Shape Safer NCD Policies”
Students were encouraged to move beyond simply presenting information. Each poster incorporated survey findings, concise advocacy messages, creative approaches to communicating the intended message, and, where appropriate, interactive elements such as QR codes, surveys, social media engagement, and visual content.
Faculty and staff members of the LAU School of Pharmacy evaluated the posters, recognizing the substantial effort, creativity, teamwork, and communication skills demonstrated by the participating teams.
Poster 3 was selected as the winning team, while Poster 4 received the Authentic Poster Excellence Award, recognizing its authentic and human-centered presentation.
While these distinctions celebrated individual achievements, the session highlighted the quality of work demonstrated across all participating teams. Each group exhibited remarkable effort and commitment in developing its message, translating research into accessible communication, and presenting the pharmacist’s role from the perspective of the audience they sought to reach.
The poster advocacy session reflected an important dimension of the pharmacist’s professional role: advocating for patients and helping them navigate their health and medicines safely.
For future pharmacists, advocacy extends beyond delivering information. It means understanding the needs of patients and caregivers, communicating evidence in ways that are meaningful and accessible, and recognizing opportunities to strengthen safety and improve care.
By placing patient advocacy at the center of the activity, the School of Pharmacy provided students with an opportunity to experience advocacy not simply as a concept, but as a professional responsibility.
The session reinforced a message that remains central to the pharmacy profession: advocating for patients is among the top priorities of pharmacists. Through knowledge, communication, collaboration, and compassion, pharmacists can help make care safer and contribute to healthier futures.