There are 4.8 million Australian adults affected by incontinence, a condition more prevalent than asthma (2 million), arthritis (3.1 million) and anxiety disorders (2.3 million). The figure is expected to reach 6.5 million by 2030*.
Incontinence is challenging, with many taking their concerns into the community pharmacy. To help pharmacists better respond, a CPD-accredited online course has been developed by the Continence Foundation of Australia and the Guild Pharmacy Academy.
The recently launched course, Continence care for pharmacists, uses customer case scenarios to cover many aspects of continence care, such as local community-based continence services, pharmacy continence products and appropriate referrals. It also looks at the business case for providing a continence care service in the pharmacy.
Continence Foundation of Australia chief executive officer Barry Cahill said pharmacists were ideally placed to provide first-line advice to customers to help manage their incontinence.
“This online course will help pharmacy staff start the conversation and will ensure they can provide consumers with the accurate product information and appropriate referrals advice,” Mr Cahill said.
He also drew attention to the Continence Foundation’s free National Continence Helpline (1800 33 00 66), where customers and health care professionals could receive confidential information, advice, resources and referrals.
Pharmacists can enrol in Continence care for pharmacists at mycpd.org.au. The course is accredited for two hours of Group 1 CPD (or 2 CPD credits), which can be converted to two hours of Group 2 CPD (or 4 CPD credits) upon successful completion of relevant assessment activities (accreditation code A1511GA2).
Phone 03 9810 9930 or email [email protected] for more information.
*Deloitte Access Economics, The economic impact of incontinence in Australia, Continence Foundation of Australia, 2011.