Tackling the quality of non-prescription medicines dispensing in pharmacies by combining a Balanced Score Card with change management: interim findings

Poster presented at the EHMA Annual Conference “New Models of Care. Reinventing Healthcare: Why, What, How” [European Health Management Association]. 14-16 June 2016, Ordem dos Médicos, Porto, PortugalN/

Reporting pharmacy staff communication for OTC medicines encounters with simulated patients

Poster presented at the 44th ESCP Symposium on Clinical Pharmacy. Lisbon, 28-30 October 201

Assisting consumers in self-medication: reflections on the role of support staff in community pharmacy

Poster presented at the 43rd ESCP Symposium on Clinical Pharmacy – Patient Safety : Bridging the Gaps. Copenhagen, 22nd-24th October 2014

Feeding back pharmacy staff on their OTC dispensing performance: an exploratory study

Poster presented at the 20th International Social Pharmacy Workshop. Boston, 5-8 August 2014

Prevention and control of antimicrobial resistant healthcare-associated infections: The microbiology laboratory rocks!

In Europe, each year, more than four milion patients acquire a healthcare-associated infection (HAI) and almost 40 thousand die as a direct consequence of it. Regardless of many stategies to prevent and control HAIs, they remain an important cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide with a significant economic impact: a recent estimate places it at the ten billion dollars/year. The control of HAIs requires a prompt and efficient identification of the etiological agent and a rapid communication with the clinician. The Microbiology Laboratory has a significant role in the prevention and control of these infections and is a key element of any Infection Control Program. The work of the Microbiology Laboratory covers microbial isolation and identification, determination of antimicrobial susceptibility patterns, epidemiological surveillance and outbreak detection, education, and report of quality assured results. In this paper we address the role and importance of the Microbiology Laboratory in the prevention and control of HAI and in Antibiotic Stewardship Programs and how it can be leveraged when combined with the use of information systems. Additionally, we critically review some challenges that the Microbiology Laboratory has to deal with, including the selection of analytic methods and the proper use of communication channels with other healthcare services.publishersversionpublishe

Self-medication consultations in community pharmacy: an exploratory study on teams’ performance, client-reported outcomes and satisfaction

Background: Community pharmacy teams (CPTs) have an established role in assisting self-medication, contributing to the safe and effective use of non-prescription medicines. Objective: The study aimed to describe CPTs’ performance in self-medication consultation, client-reported outcomes, and satisfaction. A secondary purpose was to develop an explanatory model for better understanding clients’ satisfaction with this service. Methods: Descriptive, cross-sectional exploratory study. Data were collected in a purposive sample of pharmacy clients recruited in six community pharmacies in Portugal. CPTs adopted a structured approach to self-medication consultations, encompassing 11 quality criteria (five for case evaluation and six for counselling). An evaluation score, a counselling score and an overall quality score were estimated. Client-reported outcomes and satisfaction were ascertained via a follow-up telephone interview. Besides descriptive statistics, the association with several independent variables on the clients’ overall satisfaction was explored, using linear regression.  Results: Product-based dispensing was more frequent for lower educated clients. Reported compliance with the criteria by CPTs was overall high (93.95% of maximum compliance), mostly missing the ‘other medication’ questioning. Most clients (93%) reported improvement after the consultation. Clients’ satisfaction score was 4.70 out of 5. The variables that seem to better explain clients’ overall satisfaction are pharmacy loyalty, the evaluation score, and the female gender. Conclusions: Clients’ reported outcomes were favourable, as well as satisfaction with the service. Clients’ satisfaction appears to be determined by consultation quality (evaluation score), suggesting the advancement of the pharmacists’ clinical role. A larger study is warranted to confirm these findings