APWE-01 - Expanding your toolkit to improve medicines information accessibility
Introduction
Goal 10 (Equity and Equality) of the FIP Development Goals underscores the importance of addressing barriers that limit access to or understanding of medicines information. This goal is a key pillar for improving patient care outcomes. One way to remove barriers is to ensure pharmacy practitioners have the know-how to deliver health information specific to a given individual’s level of understanding. Available health literacy tools can enhance member organizations’ and individual practitioners’ capacity to deliver equitable care. Additionally, FIP can serve as a leader in developing new tools and areas for research related to the intersection of pharmacy practice and health literacy. To identify current gaps and future opportunities at this intersection, the Health and Medicines Information Section has put together a working group that is collecting historical data about health literacy projects.
This session will provide an interim update about an ongoing Board of Pharmacy Practice special project conducted by the Health and Medicines Information Section. The project was undertaken to gather global input on the role of pharmacy practice initiatives in improving health literacy. Speakers will also provide insight into the history of health literacy at FIP and USP. For many years, FIP and USP have created resources and standards that are based on health literacy principles within their organizations. This session will highlight where health literacy projects in both organizations intersect. Pharmaceutical pictograms created by both FIP and USP have been used globally. This session will discuss the current redesign of USP’s pharmaceutical pictograms and share a story about adoption of FIP pictograms by government entities. The path forward for global pharmaceutical pictograms with FIP and USP will be discussed. Additionally, the session will detail how USP is developing new tools for healthcare providers in their quest to improve health literacy for their patients.
Programme
| 08:00 – 08:02 | Introduction by the chairs |
| 08:02 – 08:12 | Health Literacy BPP special project spdate Dr Amy Kruger Howard, ExCo member FIP Health and Medicines Information Section, USA |
| 08:12 – 08:20 | FIP Foundation and pictograms – current experience in Singapore Dr Jenelle Sobotka, FIP Foundation Board Chair, USA |
| 08:20 – 08:40 | US Pharmacopeia Pictograms and other tools – looking ahead Ms Misti Spann, USP, USA |
Learning objectives
- Learn to effectively report ongoing and past health literacy projects to enhance the project database being used for a technical report on the state of health literacy in pharmacy practice
- Recognize potential areas for development of FIP’s health equity portfolio
- Describe the methodology behind the redevelopment of the USP pictograms
- Summarize the available USP resources designed to adapt patient materials for individuals with low health literacy
Summary
Equipping pharmacists with health literacy-focused tools empowers them to have meaningful patient interactions, allowing them to better meet patient needs and remove potential barriers to care.