Self-Care

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common chronic gastrointestinal disorder that affects people of all ages. Pharmacists can play an important role in symptom management, referral to other healthcare professionals and provision of advice to improve quality of life. This event will provide an overview of the main roles pharmacists can have in supporting people living with IBS, from a community pharmacy perspective.

By the end of the session participants should be able to:
• Discuss the role of community pharmacists around IBS
• Understand the difference in symptoms between abdominal cramping pain and IBS
• Identify red flag symptoms for referral of IBS patients

The demand for travel health and travel medicine services is rapidly growing with the return levels of international travel. Patients are frequently turning to community pharmacies for advice on disease reduction and maintaining personal health whilst travelling. Pretravel preparation is important for many reasons one of which is supporting Global Health policies and strategies.

In some countries legislation has been devolved to allow pharmacists to prescribe medication and vaccinate travellers. However, this is not the situation globally and the many countries place restrictions on this type of pharmacy practice.

Learning objectives:
– To raise the awareness of pretravel consultation service that can be provided in a community setting without prescribing or vaccination.
– To identify over-the-counter products that can be supplied to support travellers visiting a pharmacy
– Compare and contrast classes of over-the-counter products for selected conditions and identify/select appropriate patients for their use.
– Showcase the collaborations with the International Institute of Travel Medicine through membership of ISTM and completion of Certificate of Health

Moderator:
– Daragh Connolly, President Community Pharmacy Section, Ireland

Panelists:
– Derek Evans, Pharmacist Specialist in Travel Medicine Evans Travel Health consultancy, UK
– Karl Hess, Director, Community Pharmacy Practice Innovations Department of Pharmacy Practice, Chapman University School of Pharmacy, Irvine, California, USA
– Sheila Seed, Professor and Chair of Pharmacy Practice, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, USA
– Larry Goodyer, Professor of Pharmacy Practice, Leicester School of Pharmacy Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, De Montfort University, UK

This first event in the FIP 2022 series ‘Food for thought: Pharmacists’ role in health nutrition’ aims to describe the basics of nutrition for pharmacists, and the role of pharmacists in providing nutrition services for better health outcomes, expanding from the 2021 FIP report “Nutrition and weight management services: A toolkit for pharmacists”.

Moderator:
– Jaime Acosta, Community Pharmacist, Farmacia Acosta, Spain

Panellists:
– Joanna Harnett, Senior Lecturer, Sydney Pharmacy School, Australia
– Rúben Viegas, Practice Development Projects Coordinator, FIP, Portugal

Constipation is a common symptom pharmacists encounter in daily practice. It is often a self-limiting symptom that can be adequately managed in the community through the use of non-prescription medicines, as well as dietary and lifestyle measures. This event will explore how community pharmacists may support the management of constipation and empower individuals for optimal self-care.

By the end of the session participants should be able to:
• Understand the role of pharmacists in managing constipation in the community
• Understand the influence of fibre, exercise, and fluids in constipation
• Explore the complications of constipation medicines, especially in older adults

Moderator:

– Marwan Akel, FIP Projects Manager – Workforce development, evidence & impact, Lebanon

Panellists:

– Safwan Jihan, Assistant Dean, Lebanese International University / School of Pharmacy, Lebanon
– Madisch, Ahmed, Senior Consultant and Head, Center of Gastroenterology Bethanien, Germany
– João Rafael Gonçalves, Community pharmacist, Portugal

Gastrointestinal health and digestive wellness can be influenced by several lifestyle factors, including diet and stress, and using certain types of medicines. It is important for pharmacists to consider these factors when interacting with patients who present with such symptoms. Different non-prescription medicines are available to treat symptoms related to GI complaints and digestive wellness, rendering pharmacies key access points for trusted advice and access to self-care products which can provide relief and care to affected individuals. This event marks the World Digestive Wellness Day (29 May).

By the end of the session participants should be able to:
• Understand the role of pharmacists in providing advice on digestive wellness
• Understand the relationship between gut wellness and immunity
• Identify practical ways to support better digestive wellness in the community

Self-care is an integral part of healthcare systems, contributing to healthcare cost savings, better allocation of resources and improved health outcomes in the population. Pharmacists are well placed in the community to support health-related decisions and facilitate informed self-care. FIP aims to support pharmacists in this role through advocacy and by developing professional resources in the area of self-care. This event will showcase a variety of FIP publications, including the launch of a new handbook.

Pharmacy teams are increasingly providing services that support people to self-care with their sexual health. This webinar will focus particularly on advice, screening and testing, as well as appropriate management of choices of medicines and products to support sexual health. A case study will be presented and the event will conclude with a panel discussion.

This event discusses how targeted switching of prescription only medicines to non-prescription medicines (Over The Counter medicines) can contribute to self-care of a nation’s population. Availability of diagnostics in the pharmacy and beyond can also make an impact on self-care.

Pharmacy teams are increasingly supporting children and their carers with self-care. This webinar will focus particularly on appropriate management of choices of medicines and products to support children’s health, and the role of the pharmacist. A case study will be presented and the event will conclude with a panel discussion.

There is variability across the globe in the provision of universal healthcare. Self-care is the ability to maintain and improve individual’s health, prevent or limit diagnosed illnesses, and address self-treatable conditions. Self care is not no care and it is not necessarily practised in isolation. It may involve support and advice from others, such as expert pharmacy teams.  This event discusses how self-care can contribute to Universal Health Coverage from the perspectives of providers of healthcare services and public and patients.

Gastrointestinal symptoms have an impact on the health and wellbeing of individuals that can be debilitating, however, the majority of people can be supported by the pharmacy team to self-care and effectively manage their symptoms.

Sore throat is a common self-limiting condition which often leads to patients presenting in the pharmacy for advice, treatment options and reassurance. Sore throat is predominantly a viral condition for which symptomatic management offers the most appropriate course of action. Effective diagnosis, communication and managing expectations can prevent unnecessary onward referral or inappropriate antibiotic use.

Hygiene practices including hand and surface disinfection form part of our first line of defence by helping to reduce the spread of the infections such as COVID-19. These interventions also have an impact on many common infections such as cold and seasonal flu. The pharmacy team are the most accessible healthcare provider and are a convenient source of advice for patients and public in the maintenance of appropriate hand and surface hygiene practices.

This event asked how healthcare can be rebuilt amidst a global pandemic and focus on the important role that selfcare plays. It also looked at the enablers that will accelerate self-care through community pharmacy and how this builds towards Universal Health Coverage.

Pain is a common symptom of a range of conditions or situations, and can manifest and be experienced with different intensities, from mild discomfort to highly incapacitating. A particular type of pain that often leads to consultations to pharmacists and the use of self-care medicines is headache. Relieving headaches and regaining mental clarity are important for patient wellbeing and productivity, and pharmacists can play a role in advising on the most appropriate strategies and therapeutic approaches that are suitable for each patient.

Pain is a common symptom of a range of conditions or situations, and can manifest and be experienced with different intensities, from mild discomfort to highly incapacitating. A particular type of pain that often leads to consultations to pharmacists and the use of self-care medicines is headache. Relieving headaches and regaining mental clarity are important for patient wellbeing and productivity, and pharmacists can play a role in advising on the most appropriate strategies and therapeutic approaches that are suitable for each patient.

Pain is a common symptom of a range of conditions or situations, and can manifest and be experienced with different intensities, from mild discomfort to highly incapacitating. A particular type of pain that often leads to consultations to pharmacists and the use of self-care medicines is headache. Relieving headaches and regaining mental clarity are important for patient wellbeing and productivity, and pharmacists can play a role in advising on the most appropriate strategies and therapeutic approaches that are suitable for each patient.

Support pharmacists to play an advisory role in community pain management with OTC analgesics.

The learning objectives of this symposia involves providing community pharmacists with:

– Consumer perspectives towards their pain management
– Importance of stratifying treatment based on patient underlying conditions & needs

Pain is a common symptom of a range of conditions or situations, and can manifest and be experienced with different intensities, from mild discomfort to highly incapacitating. A particular type of pain that often leads to consultations to pharmacists and the use of self-care medicines is headache. Relieving headaches and regaining mental clarity are important for patient wellbeing and productivity, and pharmacists can play a role in advising on the most appropriate strategies and therapeutic approaches that are suitable for each patient.

Pain is a common symptom of a range of conditions or situations, and can manifest and be experienced with different intensities, from mild discomfort to highly incapacitating. A particular type of pain that often leads to consultations to pharmacists and the use of self-care medicines is headache. Relieving headaches and regaining mental clarity are important for patient wellbeing and productivity, and pharmacists can play a role in advising on the most appropriate strategies and therapeutic approaches that are suitable for each patient.

Pain is a common symptom of a range of conditions or situations, and can manifest and be experienced with different intensities, from mild discomfort to highly incapacitating. A particular type of pain that often leads to consultations to pharmacists and the use of self-care medicines is headache. Relieving headaches and regaining mental clarity are important for patient wellbeing and productivity, and pharmacists can play a role in advising on the most appropriate strategies and therapeutic approaches that are suitable for each patient.

Pharmacy teams are increasingly supporting patients with self-care. This webinar focused particularly on appropriate management of choices of medicines and products to support women’s health, and the role of the pharmacist. A case study was presented and the event concluded with a panel discussion.

Pain is a common symptom of a range of conditions or situations, and can manifest and be experienced with different intensities, from mild discomfort to highly incapacitating. Supporting patients in adequately managing pain and using medicines to alleviate it in an optimal way is a common and important part of pharmacists’ daily practice.

Self-care can empower consumers by giving them the knowledge and tools to improve the quality of their daily lives. For example, consumers often treat minor symptoms, such as a mild headache or a cold, themselves using products purchased over-the-counter at a local pharmacy or grocery store.

In 1998, a special working group of the World Health Organization (WHO) offered an inclusive definition of self-care: “Self-care in health refers to the activities individuals, families and communities undertake with the intention of enhancing health, preventing disease, limiting illness, and restoring health. These activities are derived from knowledge and skills from the pool of both professional and lay experience. They are undertaken by lay people on their own behalf, either separately or in participative collaboration with professionals.”

In today’s rapidly changing healthcare environment, self-care should be recognised as an integral element of a coordinated and comprehensive national health policy.

This event will explore latest developments in digital health that supports self-care. It will identify practical strategies to appraise latest technology and manage misinformation and the ‘infodemic’. Current practice and role of the pharmacist in digital health is also discussed.

Diabetic foot is a devasting complication of diabetes that can lead to loss of a limb and life. It has a complex pathology characterised by neuropathy, ischaemia and slow healing. Often the resulting loss in feeling leaves patients unable to sense the damage to their feet. 451 Million suffer with diabetes worldwide, 1 in 10 will get a foot ulcer, 80% go to have an amputation, 8 out of 10 amputations can be prevented by intervention.

This event will explore the evolution in our understanding of health literacy and identify practical strategies to improve health literacy in community populations. The role of the pharmacist in health literacy is also discussed.
Health literacy describes the skills that enable individuals to obtain, understand and use information to make decisions and take actions that have an impact on health. Several countries now have well established national strategies and plans to improve health literacy through programs to improve the skills of patients and the public, and service changes to reduce the literacy demands on patients and the public.

The aim of this event was to identify how the community pharmacy team can support self-care for people with musculoskeletal pain

This webinar will present selected findings from a recent FIP survey on the regulation of the distribution of medicines and pharmacists’ role in supporting responsible self-care. It will also focus on the role of pharmacies in relation to the use of generics, as well as alternative and complementary medicines.

This event will showcase current self-care delivery in community pharmacy across the globe and explore how future delivery could look. People centred care is at the heart of self-care and so this is an important area to explore including the associated communication skills. Strategies to build trust and rapport is vital to self-care will also be discussed. This topic is important because pharmacy teams are increasingly supporting patients with self-care.

This webinar will focus on the the role of community of pharmacists in weight management and obesity prevention, screening, referral and management, pharmacy-led weight management approaches and the intergenerational correlations in hypercholesterolemia and obesity. In addition, we will also present selected aspects from the FIP handbook on nutrition and weight management for pharmacists, to be launched that day.

This event will showcase the four pillars of the FIP Community Pharmacy Section’s Vision – review, prescribe, dispense, administer. It will also signpost how to empower patients, pharmacists, healthcare professionals about the value of selfcare and the importance of appropriate management for selecting medicines for self-care.

This webinar will focus on the role of nutrition in the prevention and management of non-communicable diseases, and the role that pharmacists can play to support healthy nutrition choices for different population groups. We plan to invite a range of expert speakers to address important aspects such as the role of community of pharmacists in diabetes prevention, screening, referral and management, the role of dietary supplements in disease management and one example of a community pharmacy nutrition service. In addition, we will also present selected aspects from the FIP handbook on nutrition and weight management for pharmacists, to be launched that day.

This webinar will present selected findings from a recent FIP survey on community pharmacy models and self-care. It will provide an overview of trends affecting community pharmacies’ sustainability, namely the impact of players such as Amazon or the evolution of remuneration models for professional services. It will also provide a snapshot of community pharmacy in China.

This event will set the scene for FIP’s self-care digital events programme. It will describe what the programme consists of and the main learning outcomes. This topic is important because pharmacy teams are increasingly supporting patients with self-care. The event will also describe what self-care involves, its benefits and the future of self-care. There will be a panel discussion about how pharmacy can shape the future of self-care.

Online delivery of goods became very common nowadays, and even increased during COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdowns. The way consumers obtain medicines, as special type of goods, is also changing. In some countries, buying medicines online is becoming common practice, because buyers are preferring to order their medicines through a click of a button rather than taking a trip to a pharmacy or a drug store. However, online customers may have difficulty knowing whether an Internet pharmacy is a legitimate operation, without the same confidence as they would have had in the neighborhood pharmacy. What are the practices in place to make sure that the online patient or customer can rely that they will receive the medicine they need? What are the advantages and disadvantages to accessing medicines on-line from patients, as well as from pharmacists’ point of view? Since medicines are regulated products and the need for consideration of ethical issues in access to medicines is important, the online pharmacy services have both advantages and disadvantages. What are the medicines patients are allowed to receive online in different countries? What is the scope of online pharmaceutical services vis-à-vis medicine procurement, distribution, online prescriptions, internet drug information, pharmaceutical care services, etc.?

The aim of this event is to describe an evidence-based approach to self-care of mild COVID-19 symptoms