Pharmacy Continence Care - Bladder and Bowel Website

NOVA initially proposed to recruit 50 participating pharmacies from across four states and
territories, including rural and remote pharmacies and pharmacies in areas of high migrant
populations.
A brief notification of the pilot Program announcing the opportunity for pharmacies to
participate was placed in the Pharmacy Guild e-newsletter in November 2004. A number of
pharmacies contacted the NOVA Team for further information about the pilot and around 30
volunteered to participate. Other avenues used to recruit pharmacies included:
• approaching State branches of the Pharmacy Guild (ACT Guild)
• seeking participants from other Commonwealth-funded projects (participants in the
Divisions of GP program in Tasmania and Victoria, and the Hunter Continence Care
project in NSW)
• team members cold-canvassing, in person and by phone, pharmacies in Canberra,
Sydney and Melbourne.
A total of 51 pharmacies volunteered to participate. These are listed in Appendix 1.3.
Pharmacy training methodology involved initial design and administration of an initial
interview of each participating pharmacy at entry to the Program that included identification
of preferred modes for training. Training methods and modalities were assessed and
selected, an external training provider appointment. Training of the trainers was undertaken
and a training schedule for all pharmacies established.
Training kits were distributed to each participating pharmacy and the training provider
provided training for each pharmacy, through face-to-face, self-paced, telephone-based or
group training. During the training sessions, pharmacies were provided with information and
encouraged to undertake a number of activities that would contribute to continence care for
their customers. These recommended activities included:
• providing information on incontinence and its management to customers (in accordance
with Professional Practice Standard PPS 1 in the QCPP program. A pack of consumer
materials was provided to pharmacies including counter talkers (in the form of a business
cards), stickers to be placed on relevant products, posters to be displayed in the
pharmacy, pamphlets on incontinence issues and a specially produced edition of Bridge,
the magazine of the Continence Foundation of Australia
• providing counselling on continence management issues as required or requested. The
messages to be conveyed included incontinence may affect both men and women, it is
not an inevitable consequence of ageing, and it should be managed appropriately.
Pharmacies were provided with information and training on self-help strategies and
management options that could be used by consumers to assist them to make informed
choices and to take action
• providing information to customers on medications that may exacerbate incontinence or
predispose a person to it, and medications that may alleviate symptoms.
The degree to which pharmacies implemented these components of the Program is analysed
in Chapter 4 of this report.
At the end of training, the project team and the training provider reviewed the
appropriateness and effectiveness of training, and sought post-training self-evaluation
reports by facsimile from each pharmacy, together with a Program-supplied tax invoice for
an incentive and compensation payment of $350 plus GST in contribution to the pharmacy
costs for participation in the training and pilot Program preparation.
Final Report
7
NOVA Public Policy
Pharmacy Continence Care Project