Pharmacy Continence Care - Bladder and Bowel Website

Further work would be required through implementation of the Program to assess
adequately consumer benefit and contribution to improved health outcomes. Implementation
of the Program is recommended, using the training materials, training modalities and
communication resources and methods developed for this pilot. Implementation of the
Program could be undertaken through full funding as an identified national health promotion
and health intervention program or could be required to become financially self-sustaining.
Final Recommendation
• That the Pharmacy Continence Care Program be nationally implemented.
The Project team makes this recommendation on the basis of the reported benefits to
pharmacies of the training and training materials, and the extent to which the evaluation
demonstrates that the objectives of the project have been met through the training and
training materials. These objectives were to:
• provide community pharmacists and assistants with the information and skills to
significantly raise community awareness of the issue of incontinence and to recognise
and promote help-seeking strategies by their customers
• promote widespread awareness of diagnosis and treatment services available
• encourage individuals to seek readily accessible, appropriate and discreet information
about their condition/symptoms.
The Pharmacy Continence Care Program pilot has provided sufficient evidence against the
first objective to indicate that implementation of the Program could be expected to be
sustainable in the longer term, given the demonstrated benefit to pharmacy practice in
primary health care and to pharmacy business.
The limited consumer sample achieved through this project methodology has not provided
direct evidence against the second and third objectives. Further work is required through
implementation of the Program adequately to assess consumer benefit and contribution to
improved health outcomes.
Implementation plan
The project team proposes an implementation strategy that is based on and informed by the
team’s experience through this project. The strategy we propose comprises a two-year
implementation program to recruit and train pharmacies Australia-wide, comprising:
• Recruitment:
o development of a marketing plan and suite of promotional materials using the “BB”
branding and colours or similar, and the sample materials trialled in the pilot Program
(poster, counter talkers, stickers)
o advertising the PCCP across Australia using the marketing materials to enlist a
substantial number of participants over the 24 month implementation period
• Training:
o a national training program comprising self-paced learning through web-based and
CD-ROM packages, and with the option of face-to-face training, using the training
materials and training modalities developed through this pilot
o a calendar of booked, face-to-face group training in regional centres
o maintenance of the training materials and the website to ensure currency of
information and a ready supply of “good news” stories that will promote continued
implementation of the Program
Final Report xi NOVA Public Policy
Pharmacy Continence Care Project