In the last year the Very Illustrious Official College of Pharmacists of Valencia (MICOF) has developed new projects, which add to those that have already been underway for years, to reinforce the work of pharmacists with society and ensure that their actions result in better health outcomes among the population. Always committed to promote actions that help improve the health of the population, as well as to consolidate the social role that the pharmacist can perform, the collegiate institution has developed programs to combat unwanted loneliness, prevent the risk of stroke and improve the correct taking of medications among the population.
Pharmacies against unwanted loneliness
MICOF has promoted ‘The pharmacy against unwanted loneliness‘, a social project with the aim of helping to combat, or mitigate, from the network of pharmacies in the province of Valencia, unwanted loneliness and its effects on our health, since it frequently affects our daily routines. self-care (sedentary lifestyle, smoking, unhealthy diet, mismatched schedules…).
“Unwanted loneliness is an unchosen situation that prevents interaction with other people and that generates a negative impact on the health of citizens, both physically and mentally,” said the MICOF CSR member, Cande Almenar. “For this reason, and given that the well-being of patients is our reason for being, our College has decided to commit to this project in which they will also generate bonds of union with other health and social agents of the different populations to which the pharmacies belong,” said Almenar.
In this way, pharmacies can participate in this project to identify people at risk of social exclusion associated with unwanted loneliness and establish the level of risk through a validated questionnaire (East II Scale of Social Loneliness), with the aim of guarantee their social inclusion and improve their emotional health, establishing emotional ties that break unwanted loneliness through the community resources of the municipality. In this sense, Almenar has highlighted that, for the development of the project, “it is essential count on the collaboration of Social Work professionals which, after assessing the result of the questionnaire or the person’s level of risk of social loneliness, will establish a Personalized Intervention Plan based on their personal, family and social situation, as well as the community resources at their disposal.
Initially, the initiative was going to focus on rural area. However, the College has decided to expand the project to the urban area. “This type of loneliness is also closely related to the lifestyles of big cities and that is why we have decided to expand the project to the entire province and all its populations,” explained Almenar.
In short, ‘The pharmacy against unwanted loneliness’ allows community pharmaceutical professionals to carry out their work as health agents (with the review, control and knowledge of their patients’ pharmacological treatments) while reinforcing their social function, given their accessibility and closeness to the population and through their collaboration with other social agents. “Our main objective is and will always be to achieve the physical, mental and social well-being of our patients and this is, without a doubt, one of those projects,” said the MICOF CSR member.
With the aim of strengthening this initiative, on May 3, the MICOF project director, Isabel Romero, presented the project to the members of the Salvador Allende-Arquitecto Tolsá Basic Zone Health Council. It should be noted that, additionally and as part of the project, the beneficiaries are offered the provision of Professional Pharmaceutical Assistance Services (SPFA) to review the medication and the first aid kit to guarantee the safety, effectiveness and adequacy of their treatments. All of this, to fulfill other of the main objectives of MICOF: to facilitate the daily life of people with chronic diseases, guaranteeing the effectiveness of their treatments and the care of their health thanks to the monitoring carried out by the community pharmacist professional.
Stroke risk prevention
In April, MICOF and the Sagunto City Council presented the Campaign “PREVENIM ICTUS” to help reduce the risk of stroke among the population through community pharmacies. The initiative promoted by both institutions together with the Sagunto Health Department has begun with a three-month pilot program in the community pharmacies of the basic health area of Sagunto and Puerto de Sagunto in coordination with health agents.
PREVENIM ICTUS consists of detection of undiagnosed atrial fibrillation. That is, an arrhythmia that occurs when the heart beats quickly and disorganized and is associated with a high risk of stroke. To do this, pharmacies perform a simple non-invasive test that consists of performing an electrocardiogram by placing your fingers on a device for 30 seconds to obtain a heart rate reading. In addition, some simple questions are asked to the user to identify risk factors associated with this pathology. After the results, and if necessary, the pharmacist refers the user to the health center. The service is aimed at people aged 55 and over and with at least one risk factor.
The president of MICOF, Jaime Giner, hopes that the pilot “can be extended to the rest of the public health network so that it becomes a permanent healthcare service, given that community pharmacy plays a fundamental role in the detection and screening of chronic diseases such as In this case it is atrial fibrillation.” Furthermore, he has highlighted that the knowledge that the community pharmacist has of the patients who come to the pharmacy, their health status and their medical treatments, “makes him a healthcare professional suitable for detecting patients at risk of suffering a stroke”.
This campaign has also allowed, in Giner’s words, an “unprecedented milestone” to occur by allowing collaboration in a coordinated and protocolized manner between two levels of care: community pharmacists and primary care pharmacists.
Rational use of medication
At the end of 2023, MICOF and the University of Valencia (UV) launched the Chair of Rational Use of Medicines (URM) with the aim of promoting research, study and carrying out scientific work in the area of medication review and optimization of patient pharmacotherapy, as well as the study of trends and risks associated with the consumption of medications.
In addition, it also seeks to identify potential opportunities for improvement after a detailed review of the patients’ pharmacotherapeutic history and to promote training and cultural activities around the URM. Among the planned activities is a notable Research Award dedicated to the field of URMwhich will be open to participants from the academic community and professionals interested in delving deeper into this important field of study.
Various studies ensure that half of inappropriate prescriptions could be avoided with an adequate medication review. Taking that step would allow achieve pharmacological treatment with greater guarantees in patients during the evolution of their disease. For this reason, one of the main objectives pursued by the project is to promote collaboration and coordination between Community Pharmacy and Primary and Specialized Care Medicine, as well as the creation of multidisciplinary teams in the detection of problems related to medication (PRM) to guarantee the effectiveness, safety and efficiency of treatments.
The URM Chair was presented to society on May 29 of this year in two sessions: one at the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences and another at the college headquarters in Paterna. In this sense, the member of Research, Teaching and Training of MICOF, Jose Sendrahas emphasized that this Chair was born with the idea of promoting training, cultural, research and university extension activities around the URM, “a crucial aspect of pharmaceutical care, since it implies the appropriate and safe use of medications by from the patients”.
Other projects underway
In addition to the three initiatives already mentioned, MICOF works on many other actions to help in health care of the population, as well as at a social level.
An example is the ‘Act with two fingers’ campaign launched this summer by the Consell Valencià de Col·legis de Farmacèutics (CVFC) to help the population combat high temperatures from the pharmacies of the Valencian Community and with the training of the group to offer the best health advice to citizens. All of this as a result of the agreement approved in March 2023 between the CVFC and the Department of Health for the participation of community pharmacists in Public Health through programs that contribute to the improving health promotion and protection, disease prevention and health education of the citizens.
Another project with a run since 2022 in MICOF is that of Xarxa Patients, a free training program for the empowerment of people with chronic diseases. Since its launch, more than 1,200 people have been able to improve their self-care to benefit their health. The objective, in the words of the CSR member of MICOF, Cande Almenar, is to continue growing “to be able to help the maximum number of active patients (patients, family members or caregivers) in different pathologies, at the same time that the number of conditions within the range of training offered by Xarxa Patients in collaboration with patient associations.”
In short, and as the president of MICOF points out, Jaime Giner, the College “does not stop working for and to care for people’s health, without leaving aside the social aspect, with the creation of new projects and the consolidation of others that are working in a very positive way.” “We are aware that as health professionals our group has a fundamental role. And we want it to remain that way,” concludes Giner.