Self-Care Flashcards
Define Self-Care
What people do for themselves to establish and maintain health, prevent and deal with illness.
What can the NHS do for self-care?
NHS cannot do self care to people, but can create an environment where people feel supported to self care.
Why do we need to encourage self-care?
- Over 15 mill people with longer term health needs + growing
- Saves a lot of money and resources
- Has been a huge increase in numbers of items dispensed e.g. antidepressants and drugs used for diabetes
What are the benefits of self-care to key stakeholders (e.g. patients + HCPs)?
- Experts in their own condition, taking control means their care is catered for them
- Have better lives when they are supported for self-care
What are the advantages of self-care?
- Experience better health + wellbeing
- Reduce the perceived severity of their symptoms
- Improve medicines adherence
- Prevent unnecessary hospital admissions
- Remain in their own home
- Greater confidence
- Better mental health
What is the overarching theme of self-care?
When people feel supported to look after their health they are empowered to understand their condition to be in control of how they feel and what they do, making them feel a better sense of wellbeing.
What are the benefits of self-care to the NHS?
- Visits to GPs could decrease by up to 40%
- Visits to outpatient clinics could decrease by up to 17%
- Visits to A&E could decrease by 50%
- Overall drugs expenses would decrease
What factors would make a patient choose self-care?
- History + personal experiences
- Existing knowledge/values and beliefs/cultural background
- Literacy + cognitive ability
- Confidence, self-esteem
- Perceived control
- Availability of personalised choice
- Availability of information + the form it is presented in
Who are the people that fall into the ‘self-treaters’ category?
- Women with young children = less time for themselves, more focused on health of other family
- Women (60-80%)
- Full time employment = less time available to make appointments during working hours
- Elderly = prescription service, reduces need to see doctors and increases interaction with pharmacy
Why do some people prefer to ask their Pharmacist?
- Don’t want to waste GP time
- Alternative for minor ailments
- Convenience
- Dissatisfaction with GP service + treatment
- More info.
- Approachability
- Referral
- Cost of medicine = may be cheaper OTC
Why do some people still prefer to ask their GP?
- Pharmacists should not and do not diagnose
- Medical history is with GP (but pharmacists can access summary care records with permission)
- Prior experience of condition + treatment
- Lack of privacy?
What is the role of the Pharmacist in self-care?
The link between patients and public initiatives.
- Provide advice on the management of their condition.
- Advise ‘self-treaters’
Considered an essential service to support self-care in the Pharmacy contract.
What are the GENERAL services for self-care as stated in the Pharmacy contract?
- Provide advice for people requesting help with the treatment of minor illnesses + long-term conditions
- Advise on the appropriate use of the wide range of non-prescription medicines
- Make healthy lifestyle interventions
- Signpost patients to other H+S care providers
What are the LOCAL services for self-care as stated in the Pharmacy contract?
'Locally commissioned community pharmacy services', contracted via a number of diff routes + commissioners. E.g. - Alcohol Screening + brief intervention - Needle + syringe exchange - Stop smoking - Medication Review - EHC - Chlamydia Screening + Treatment - NHS Health Check
What are the ENHANCED services for self-care as stated in the Pharmacy contract?
- Flu Vaccines
- MUR + Prescription intervention
- The Appliance User Review
- The Stoma Appliance Customisation Service
- NMS
- The NUMSAS (NHS urgent medicine supply advanced service) - pilot that is being trialled
