Pharmacists in Smoking Cessation

CPD overview
Self-appraisal
What do I know about ankylosing spondylitis
and how it is diagnosed?
Am I familiar with the features of inflammatory
back pain?
Am I familiar with the available treatment options?
Can I counsel patients and their carers effectively
on their AS drug therapy?
Can I provide appropriate self-care advice to a
patient with AS?
Personal Plan
Including a list of desired learning outcomes in a personal
learning plan is a helpful self-analytical tool.
Create a list of desired learning outcomes.
How will I accomplish these learning outcomes?
Identify resources available to achieve learning
outcomes.
Develop a realistic timeframe for the plan.
pharmacy to ensure that you have appropriate
guidelines in place to ensure they are offered
appropriate advice and counselling.
Evaluate professional resource materials available
in the pharmacy and source additional material if
necessary.
Evaluate availability of patient support materials
and source additional material if necessary.
Evaluate
Consider outcomes of learning and impact of learning.
Have I met my desired learning outcomes?
Do I now feel confident to be able to distinguish
between mechanical back pain and inflammatory
back pain?
Do I now feel confident to engage with and counsel
patients with AS?
Am I and my team now able to fully support
patients with AS?
Have further learning needs been identified?
Action
Activities chosen should be outcomes based to meet
learning objectives.
Implement plan.
Read this article on AS.
Review how you manage AS patients in your
n Ensure patients on
DMARDs and biologics are
getting regular blood tests
and that they know they
should stop or reduce their
dose in the case of adverse
events including infection.
n Each year, offer flu
vaccination to all
patients on DMARDs and
biologics. Also encourage
other vaccinations,
e.g. Pneumococcal and
Hepatitis B.
n For patients on biologics,
recommend periodic skin
analysis because of risk
of skin cancers. Advise
on use of sun screen and
avoiding the sun – see Irish
Cancer Society website for
guidelines.
AVAILABLE ONLINE
AND IN-STORE!
n Advise patients on biologics
to avoid live vaccines, e.g.
yellow fever.
Document your learning
Create a record in my ePortfolio.
Complete the true or false questions at the end of
this article.
As part of this record, complete an evaluation, noting
whether learning outcomes were achieved and
identifying any future learning needs.
Your 5-minute
assessment
n Encourage patients to carry
their patient alert card
Digestive
with them.
and Imm
Answer the following five questions
true or false:
Signposting
1. Women are more likely to develop ankylosing spondylitis.
The Ankylosing Spondylitis
Association of Ireland
and Arthritis Ireland
provide information and
support to patients and
2. When sitting, patients should move their spine regularly
Support
(e.g. by stretching
for
their back and pulling
Life
their shoulders back).
3. Patients with AS test positive rheumatoid factor.
healthcare professionals.
4. Anti-TNF therapy should not be started without screening
SUAS (Supporting and
for TB first.
Understanding Ankylosing
Spondylitis) is a booklet that
can be downloaded from
www.ankylosing-spondylitis.ie.
5. AS patients have an increased risk of osteoporosis.
Answers:
1. False. 2. True. 3. False. 4. True. 5. True.
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IPUREVIEW FEBRUARY 2017