Helping your patients understand and treat their pain is vital in the pharmacy industry. Patients come to us in order to get the help and support that they need and that is why MediaPharm’s OTC Expert Pain Relief Training for Pharmacy teams is designed to get all your pharmacy staff up to speed with valuable pain relief advice and treatments.
Pain is one of the most commonly treated symptoms in the pharmacy with early 10 million people in the UK suffering from it every day and over 28 million adults facing chronic pain every year. According to the British Pain Society (BPS) this affects people going to work, school or going about their daily lives. Chronic pain needs to be managed by the GP with a combination of medication and physiotherapy. However, mild to moderate short term pain can be managed through self-care with the help of pharmacists and over the counter pain relief medication. Every year consumers in the United Kingdom spend around 567 million pounds on over the counter pain relief medication, that is over half a billion pounds! Therefore training yourself and your pharmacy team to recommend the right pain relief for each customer’s needs will help you give a patient-centred service that both serves the community and increases sales.
With pain being one of the most common reasons why customers come into the pharmacy, shelves are bulging with pain relief products and this can make it confusing for patients to know which to choose, that is where you and your team come in.
The three main types of pain relief medication
Pain is actually a good thing, it is a warning sign put in place by the body to protect us from further injury. It is not a condition but a symptom and there are three main types of over the counter pain relief medication that we as Pharmacists and pharmacy staff can sell to our patients in order to help them manage this.
Analgesics – this refers to the type of medication that provides relief from pain without putting one to sleep. It is used to treat mild to moderate pain and is also useful for lowering temperatures. The most common drugs in this category are Paracetamol, Panadol and Calpol.
Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) – Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are medicines that are widely used to relieve pain, reduce inflammation, and bring down a high temperature. They’re often used to relieve symptoms of headaches, painful periods, sprains and strains, colds and flu, arthritis, and other causes of long-term pain. Ibuprofen, Aspirin and Diclofenac are all anti-inflammatory drugs that are commonly used by millions of people in the UK.
Weak Opioids – Opioids work by attaching to receptors in the brain and spinal cord, the gut and other parts of the body. This leads to a decrease in the way you feel pain, changes your reaction to pain, and increases your tolerance for pain. Pharmacists can sell weak opioids such as codeine and dihydrocodeine over the counter.
Why you should become an OTC Expert in Pain Relief
Understanding pain and the way that different medications work is vitally important when selling pain relief to patients. Depending on the person, their past medical history and the type of pain they are experiencing they will need different pain relief solutions. Our OTC Expert Pain Relief course is designed to enable Pharmacy support staff to be able to give great advice to patients who are looking for pain medication. It will help them understand these different types of medication and who should or shouldn’t be taking them. The course will take approximately 20 minutes to complete with additional and optional videos included to accommodate different learning styles and to help enhance your learning. This course will help you train your pharmacy team to:
- Recognise pain associated with headaches, migraine and painful joint and muscle conditions
- Recommend treatments for headaches, migraine and body pain
- Know when to refer customers to the pharmacist.
Sign your team up for our OTC Expert Pain Relief Training today!
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