What you can do for the week
See also "Ask about medicines" week links
| Members of the primary care team
wishing to take part in Ask About Medicines Week in October, should
be planning now. Gabby Clezy explains what is happening in Surrey |
The first Ask About Medicines Week in this country aims to encourage
the public to take a more active role in their health care by discussing
the management and safety of their medicines with a range of health care
professionals. The Ask About Medicines initiative aims to contribute
to people’s ability to manage their own health by encouraging better
understanding of what medicines do and how to make the most appropriate
use of them. It also aims to encourage health professionals to support
patients in asking questions about their medicines. This is a great opportunity
to make the public aware of the easily accessible, high quality advice
of community and hospital pharmacists.
 AAMW hopes to influence expectations so that asking questions about medicines
becomes the norm for patients and carers. Nurses, doctors, dentists and
pharmacists are all professionals that patients could request information
from.
Working in collaboration with Sally Greensmith, community pharmacy
facilitator in West Surrey and member of Council of the Royal Pharmaceutical
Society, we intend to give the AAMW local ownership. Together we have
designed a campaign, driven by a multi-professional team and led by pharmacists.
Sally and I provide the ideas and support materials and have gathered
a willing band of volunteers to make the week fun as well as useful.
There will be coverage in the local press and radio to help deliver the
important messages of AAMW. This week will enable people to make better
use of their medicines by:
• Increasing understanding of medicines
• Creating more opportunities to ask questions and raise concerns about
medicines
• Encouraging health professionals to help medicine users ask questions
about their medicines
• Helping medicine users to get involved in decisions about medicine
taking
• Improving access to further sources of helpful, reliable medicines
advice and information
The five primary care trusts in Surrey were created
in April 2002, when East and West Surrey Health Authorities were disbanded.
Although there
has previously been a close working relationship between the two health
authorities on community pharmacy issues, this will be the first joint
project for pharmacy across the Surrey area. The campaign is designed
to be low key and cost effective — each PCT will contribute £150.
Teams will distribute leaflets in shopping centres and stations and posters
will be displayed that support the campaign. Our leaflet gives examples
of questions patients can ask their health professional eg:
• What does this medicine do?
• How long will I need to use it?
• How and when should it be taken?
• Should I avoid any other medicines, drinks, foods or activities when
I am taking this medicine?
• What are the possible side effects?
One of the first things we did was to commission a cartoonist to create
a suitable image to feature dentists, nurses and doctors as well as pharmacists.
An A5 leaflet was developed which featured the image and questions along
with good advice on the safe use of medicines. T-shirts worn by the volunteers
will support the leaflet distribution.
 The campaign was launched at a Surrey-wide RPSGB branch meeting where
the pharmacists present displayed an enthusiastic response. The joint
branches offered to fund travelling expenses, which are expected to be
minimal, since most volunteers will campaign in their immediate area
of work. The two local pharmaceutical committees were asked to give ideas
and support, and letters and e-mails were sent to pharmacists and PCT
staff explaining the AAMW agenda and asking for volunteers. This has
been followed up with a newsletter giving details of the scheme. Each
PCT will have one allocated day to hand out material and is responsible
for collating and running their small team.
The national campaign will also be used to raise the profile of chronic
and acute health issues and this year’s focus will be epilepsy
and ’flu. Surrey is planning to hold two evening workshops for
pharmacy staff and volunteers on communication skills around epilepsy.
We intend to invite patients who have this condition to explain the problems
they experience and how health care professionals could support them
and improve their well-being. A quiz is being developed for distribution
in PCT newsletters aimed at practice staff. This will cover medicine
and medicine taking and highlight the issues of AAMW.
Ideas for the week
Posters in the pharmacy window- perhaps designed
by the local primary school.
T-shirts for staff with “Ask me about Medicines”. Total
cost of shirt and design transfer is about £10 each.
Ring up local radio stations (RPSGB branch press officers can help)
suggesting a short slot on how the pharmacist can help patients
in their medicine taking. The AAMW team have useful information
on their
website.
Contact your PCT and ask for support. Posters and leaflets (which
can be placed in bags) can be printed in a week and are reasonably
cheap to print in black and white.
Nurses are very keen to get involved so approach the local practice
and see what the team can come up with over a cup of coffee.
Offer brown bag clinics to patients or provide space for local
support groups such as Diabetes UK to display information and provide
advice.
Ask hospital pharmacy staff to distribute posters and leaflets
during ward visits.
Provide staff training on medicine-related issues, using the AAMW
prompt card as the focus of the session. |
The response to our initial request for volunteers to spend an hour or
so handing out leaflets has been something of a surprise. Not only are
PCT, community and hospital pharmacists willing to give up their time
but non-clinical trust managers, administration staff, district nurses
and health visitors as well as a Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)
manager have offered to help.
They all understand the need to give patients permission to ask questions and
to make the professionals aware that these questions often go unraised due
to fear, concern not to bother a busy health professional or a lack of understanding
about medicines and medicine taking.
The national campaign will provide a credit card sized prompt card for patients
with tips on how medicine users can make the most of their dialogue with a
health professional and key questions to ask about medicines. This will be
sent to all pharmacies before October. The Surrey campaign will supplement
the resources provided by the AAMW team. Details can be found on their website.
Our local campaign involves partnership working with a multi disciplinary team
and has been achieved on a tight budget. We are looking forward to the event
and anticipate some fun along the way.
Pharmacists are good communicators and with a bit of initiative all pharmacists
can get involved in a local campaign during October. It makes good business
sense to ensure that more customers come through the door and if a particular
pharmacy is seen as providing a value added service then patients will flock
to that store.
All pharmacists have time constraints but much of the campaign could be placed
in the hands of the health care assistants and other pharmacy staff. Involve
the entire pharmacy team and be prepared to be bombarded with innovative and
wacky ideas. Anything that gets the message across (and is in reasonably good
taste) must be worth a shot. More ideas and helpful hints are available on
the medicines-partnership website.
The only resource most local campaigns require is enthusasism. Pharmacists
are approachable, knowledgeable people only too willing to impart information
to patients. Ask About Medicines Week is all about highlighting these features
and making the patients aware of how we can help them.
When patients realise the benefits of using the pharmacist and other health
care professionals as a source of advice about medicines they become better
informed and their medicines are used more successfully.
This campaign can only have positive benefits or in 1990s management speak:
a win-win situation. I think it is a wonderful chance to get out there and
show that our profession really believes in concordance and most importantly,
we are prepared to reach out to the public — even if it means wearing
a loud T-Shirt. Good luck and do not wait to be asked. |
