Medicines
Management
Issue no 4, p13-14
July/August 2002
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Medicines
Management |
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Training for pharmacists in skills needed for medicines management
For 10 years the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) has been holding workshops and providing high quality open learning materials free of charge to community pharmacists in England. More recently, access to these training materials has been extended to pharmacists working in secondary care as well as primary care. It was logical, therefore, that the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee should have commissioned the CPPE to support the development of those pharmacists participating in its Community Pharmacy Medicines Management Project (CPMM). During 2001 CPPE ran three sessions, which all pharmacists taking part in the project were required to attend. First: introductory session The first session was intended to brief all those taking part, both pharmacy and practice staff, on the aims of the project. This session was co-hosted by PSNC and was a practical opportunity for pharmacists and their local practice colleagues to start working and learning together. Second: clinical session This was followed by a specially designed clinical session on coronary heart disease — the target patient group for the CPMM service. Using the project paperwork, pharmacists were introduced to some of the complex CHD issues with which patients are likely to present. These evenings were supported by the local consultants or specialists on CHD, allowing pharmacists to gain insight into how patients were cared for across the health service. Pharmacists commented that the presence and support of the local clinical lead on CHD had been invaluable. The patient-focussed approach reinforced the enthusiasm of the local pharmacists and gave them a key contact and ally to support them as the service moves in to operation. Third: communications session The final session of 2001 was devoted to communications. The intervention made by the CPMM project is one which involves pharmacists conducting interviews with patients and having professional discussions with their GP colleagues. This session focussed therefore on the techniques which may help to improve communication in these situations. Many pharmacists were intrigued at the suggestion that they should adopt techniques used by medical representatives when meeting with GPs. As one of our expert speakers said, "If you want someone to believe you, first persuade them that you are their friend!" Following the successes of the first series of workshops, there was a short delay in the roll out of the project and the CPPE used the time to consider the ongoing needs of participants as outlined by the evaluation forms that had been returned. The key comments were that pharmacists believed they needed a bit more clinical input and further practice at handling paperwork. Refresher events We discussed these with the PSNC project board and agreed to hold a series of refresher events, for those pharmacists who had identified a need (following their CPD cycle) and who could choose to attend. These were held at the nine pilot sites during February, March and April 2002. The session was designed to mimic the real situation as closely as possible. The details of three real patients, who met the inclusion criteria for the project, were used to complete the project forms. These were sent out to all participants before the session to allow them to make plans for the patient interview and to start the process of pharmaceutical care planning. In the workshop itself, participants were offered an opportunity to interview one of the three patients and discuss key interventions with that patient's GP. Who attended refresher events? Across England 45 out of the 70 pharmacists who are taking part in the CPMM project attended the refresher sessions. The sessions were supported by the local project co-ordinators and CPPE local tutors. The sessions were run by both authors of this article. In many areas, health authority and PCT pharmacists provided further assistance. Comments received from participants reinforced the practical applicability of the evening, with most of them commenting that they were glad to have had a chance to complete the paperwork for real, before they saw a patient! The role plays were also surprisingly well received. Parts were played by CPPE tutors, PSNC project managers and the assistant director at CPPE. All commented that the characters had been like real discussions – despite the assistant director refusing to wear a blue rinsed wig and tights! Following the sessions, a booklet was designed using the collated experiences of the participating pharmacists across the country. This provided feedback on how they had responded to the different case scenarios. Materials developed locally were also included as a shared resource for the pharmacists participating in the project. Other CPPE activities CPPE is now in the process of supporting the setting up of action learning sets in the pilot areas. Pharmacists in Walsall and Lichfield attended the first of these sessions, forming up their own sets and working on shared problems and solutions. At first, significant event analyses have been used to foster a safe environment for collegiate discussions to take place. CPPE has also developed an electronic discussion forum for those participants who would like to share information, concerns and solutions in a private, web based environment. Pharmacists wishing to access this forum should contact Matthew Shaw or Paul Gray at CPPE through the website. Many pharmacists who are participating in the CPMM project have also selected some of the open learning resources to supplement their CPD and on hand resources. These are available to all pharmacists in England and may be accessed through the website, six-monthly catalogue or by contacting CPPE directly on 0161 778 4000. Local workshops Recognising the importance of managing CHD effectively through pharmacies, CPPE has designed a series of workshops open to all pharmacists covering the different areas of CHD. Some of these have already been run in every health economy area across England. Why not contact your local CPPE tutor — this may be done through the CPPE website — to find out what is being held in your area? Further information If anyone would like further information about this, or other projects linked to the NHS Plan contact CPPE at info@cppe.man.ac.uk or look at the CPPE website www.cppe.man.ac.uk |
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