Bloating, indigestion and heartburn – when it comes to digestive troubles it seems that the vast majority of people in the United Kingdom experience these ailments yearly. Research from Mintel 2016 revealed that as many as 86% of all British adults suffer from some form of a gastrointestinal (GI) problem or ailment every year! As well as this, digestive health is in the top 5 over-the-counter (OTC) categories in Pharmacy, making the OTC Expert in Digestive Health Course a training experience that is vital for all Pharmacy staff members.
What value will this course bring to your pharmacy…
Customers seeking digestive health advice value a dedicated consultation away from the shop floor where they can discuss their concerns and needs more openly. Advice for digestive health can form part of the travel clinic (e.g. around holiday diarrhoea, travel sickness, waterborne infections) or as a standalone service. Patients are often uncomfortable with sharing their digestive health issues and really seek that extra bit of support when they do decide to speak to a professional about such issues. Having your team well trained to provide this vital service will ensure that you make your patients happy and of course make a profit from the service provided.
As part of the regular pharmacy contract, your pharmacist is required to conduct an audit to review all patients aged 65 years and overprescribed a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) drug to make sure they are also being prescribed gastroprotective medicines. Having your team members do the OTC Expert in Digestive Health Course will give them the training that they need to help support these patients and to be able to answer any of their questions.
Food allergies and intolerances play a major role in digestive health issues too. Understanding these means you can help advise customers on reducing the risks, what symptoms to look for and why it is important to seek help immediately. For those who have a known food allergy then reminding them to always carry their emergency adrenaline auto-injector is important.
Digestive Health Issues
Digestive health covers a multitude of gastrointestinal (GI) problems. These can be upper GI problems affecting the stomach and oesophagus (food pipe), such as indigestion, heartburn, nausea and vomiting. Or they can be lower GI problems affecting the bowels (intestine and colon) and rectum (back passage), such as diarrhoea, constipation and haemorrhoids.
Add to that the ‘holiday health’ conditions of travel sickness and traveller’s diarrhoea (covered in the Holiday Health module) and you can see why GI problems are a common place in the pharmacy. While many GI problems can be managed with OTC treatments and lifestyle changes, they can persist. They may also be a sign of more serious conditions such as bowel cancer. So, you have an important role to play in spotting when this might be the case and referring these customers for medical help.
Why Buy This Course?
Pharmacy owners are responsible for meeting GPhC Principle 2 requirements for support staff training. This digestive health pharmacy training course makes it easy for owners to demonstrate their staff are up to date with the latest knowledge and skills.
This course includes:
- Personalised certificate as evidence of completion
- Video tutorials to engage learners
- Case scenarios to reinforce key learning points
- Multiple choice quiz to embed learning
- Structured learning plan
- Learning outcomes
By the end of this course you and your team will be able to:
- Recognise the symptoms of indigestion, heartburn, constipation and IBS
- Recommend treatments for these conditions where appropriate
- Recognise food allergies, food intolerance and coeliac disease and advise appropriately
- Know when to refer customers to the pharmacist
Duration
This course will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. The videos are additional and but also optional. We include videos to enhance the learning experience plus accommodate different learning styles.
Why is this digestive health pharmacy training course important?
Digestive health problems are common complaints in the pharmacy and symptoms can affect any point of the digestive tract. However, customers often find the conditions, and terms used to describe them, confusing and they will be asking you for help. Understanding a customers’ symptoms means you can help them find the treatment they need to get them back on track.
Start your OTC Expert Course with Mediapharm today!