Opinion Article - (2018) Volume 3, Issue 1
Rafael Jorge Figueroa*
Universidad Autonoma de Nayarit, Docencia, Mexico
*Corresponding Author:
Rafael Jorge Figueroa
Investigador
Universidad Autonoma de Nayarit
Docencia, Blvd. Tepic - Jalisco s/n
CIudad de la Cultura, Centro, 63155 Tepic
Nay, Nayarit, Tepic 63155, Mexico
Tel: 5213111504976
E-mail: figueroa_mc@hotmail.com
Received Date: October 09, 2017; Accepted Date: October 23, 2017; Published Date: October 31, 2017
Citation: Figueroa RJ (2018) Virtual Pharmaceutical Care Module: An Effort for Professionalizing the Pharmacy Area in the State of Nayarit. J Healthc Commun 3:5. doi: 10.4172/2472-1654.100116
Why Talk about Pharmaceutical Care?
Pharmaceutical care is part of a need and for some authors, it is born together with the clinical pharmacy, trying to individualize the professional process between the pharmacist and the patient [1] taking their relationship beyond the simple fact of providing the medicine prescribed by the physician [2].
This process is fundamental, since in our country there is no obvious professionalization in the areas of interaction with patients, there is no lack of clear definition of a standard for the figure of the pharmacist and the skills that he has, clearly enriching and vital in the health process of each patient [3].
That is why the importance of Pharmaceutical care diverges in the identification of functions regarding the identification of the same on the part of the patient, but in turn converges in several points so simple to mention some as: Know how to take your medicine, whether to break or crush tablets, crush, combine with food, with other medications. Based on the idea of the patient's inalienable right to access reliable information regarding what is being prescribed, he should be well informed about his medication, whether the medication he is taking may or may not cause damage to his health in the short or long term, to mention some points [4].
Focusing on the priorities and roles of the pharmacist, as well as the interventions that can be made in the health-disease process, we can say that one of the essential objectives is to bring reliable information regarding the rational use of medicines, which will cover a set of conditions established by WHO, in which patients "receive the medication appropriate to their clinical needs, in the doses corresponding to their individual requirements, for a suitable period of time and at the lowest possible cost for them and for the community " [5].
In several states of the republic, the pharmacist was removed from the pharmacy area, leaving the physician responsible for informing and advising the patient about the use of medications. Some entities have already recovered that space with results that reflect higher quality care and positive impact on the patient's health. In Nayarit, the educational program of Chemist Farmacobiologist [6], which has nevertheless established good bridges of communication with public institutions, has not yet achieved effective penetration of its specialized graduates in the area of pharmacy, only in the area of clinical chemistry and food chemistry, the Interinstitutional State Council for the Training and Training of Human Resources and Health Research (CEIFCRHIS) has been more open [7].
Recent studies in our state show the absence or poor functioning of pharmacotherapeutic committees, without any or minimal participation of the pharmacist in the health team if we use medicine. It is, therefore, very necessary to show the need for pharmacist intervention in the health team, as well as the benefit of their knowledge and skills.
Internet and Medicines
At the national level, 57% of the Mexican population is a user of the internet and of this total, more than 70% are people under 35 years of age [8,9] and close to the totality of the aforementioned population has consulted internet related to the use of medicines, health care and diagnosis of diseases. The availability of information is little subject to analysis of truthfulness and scientific rigor, reason why a great amount of information in Internet can be handled of unreliable form and, in the surroundings of the social networks, circulates a great amount of hoaxes that far to help maintain a properly educated population, leads to serious misinformation and potentially serious behaviour. This, combining the needs of truthful information and at the same time reaching a greater number of people, makes clear the need to implement a virtual module of pharmaceutical care that offers reliable information, based on independent and academic sources with scientific support that will also try to give follow up to the population served with the support of our maximum house of studies.
The development of this part of the initiative led by faculty researchers from the Autonomous University of Nayarit (UAN) and the support of the students of the Academic Unit of Chemical Sciences of the UAN. The main objective is to encourage and give way to the establishment of pharmaceutical services at regional and national levels, making the pharmacist known as a health professional directly related to the use of the drug, providing advice and information to the general population promoting the use rational use of drugs, both in indication, prescription, pharmacological interactions and other points of importance related to their use.
It is in this way that the module has been focused and projected to develop didactic material in order to provide advice and education, with the mission of sharing pharmacological data with scientific support in general with the user population. Based on this idea, it has a presence on various platforms, including a website where the site is currently hosted. Understanding the enormous influence of social networks, a diversification was made towards the Facebook platform, because according to statistical data, 61 million Mexicans use this social network. A YouTube channel has also been designed where videos of its own production with a diversity of content focused on the rational use of medicines and disposal of expired drugs have been made available to the general public, all in strict compliance with the relevant regulations in force
A large part of the material that is disseminated for these purposes is 100 percent elaborated by the group of teachers and students within the project, the rest are shared sites or pages that address similar topics. With respect to the relation in the roles that each one performs, it functions as a chain of command of trapezoid structure, where the central management of social networks and the page is in charge of the students and the teachers, who supervise the correct implementation of such actions. For this task a scheme was designed in which 2 students per week were assigned to each student in the project with a teacher to supervise the activity in those days of assignment. This has allowed the whole team to have close communication in the collaborations related to the module.
It is important to mention that the lines of communication are multiple, generating a cooperative environment, since the project is of collective interest. In addition, as mentioned, the module functions as a two-way bridge in which queries can be made by any user who has a Facebook account to those responsible for the web portals and communication networks of the module. A cornerstone, is the information that is disseminated in this project, so the methodology of selection is fundamental for the correct functioning. The first step is to look for topics of pharmaceutical interest that may impact and benefit the population, then it is a matter of identifying what material will be developed to disseminate this information, from audio-visual material or educational infographic that corresponds.
The veracity and quality of the information provided through the portal comes from several sources of information that enjoy prestige and credibility, as well as official sites of governmental instances. It is worth noting that in our University we regularly use access to the database of the National Consortium of Scientific and Technological Information Resources (CONICYT), our character as a Public Institution is of great importance in access to scientifically reliable sources [10].
Within this system there are also access to several databases for systematic searches. Similarly, access to data from freely-held international institutions such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Systematic reviews, abstracts and meta-analyses in the Cochrane Library, medicines complete, the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) and the drugs.com site, among others. It is important to mention that it is the critical reading and the sense of updating that prevails in function of issuing in a fast and reliable, answer to any query in the pharmaceutical field.
It started from the month of January of this year with activities of web construction, collection selection, analysis of conceptual and regulatory framework, strategic planning, elaboration of infographics and multimedia material. Consequently, officially began as of June 15 the implementation of:
• Website (https://mafvqfb.wordpress.com)
•YoutubeChannel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8aQOUG3HWRotHLuxthNZPQ)
•Site on social networks like Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ModuloAFVUAN/),
This virtual module also has the corresponding records before the research and postgraduate secretariat, as well as the liaison and extension secretariat of our University.
To date, 85 consultations related to the correct use of medicines have been attended since its opening, a total of 18,231 visits of which 59% are men and 41% women, 337 people have "liked" the Facebook site, have been reproduced 440 times the uploaded videos, with a total of 57 publications including 3 videos of their own making, 25 infographics, 15 links to sites of interest, and a live broadcast as well as news from other related sites.
Expectations for results are encouraging. Efforts have already begun to move the website to the university site (with extension. edu), as well as the generation of a permanent program that seeks greater impact in our community, making our work and services known even to local health authorities in search for joint work.
