Training on OTC medicines needs to be short, snappy and accessible, a survey of pharmacy support staff has shown. The survey results were revealed at last month’s SMART conference, as Asha Fowells reports

Training providers and OTC medicines manufacturers need to be aware of the enormous pressure pharmacy staff are under when developing educational resources, senior industry figures have been told. The results of a survey of support staff views on OTC medicines training were presented at last month’s SMART conference by Richard Thomas, editor of Pharmacy Magazine, TM’s sister publication. Although survey respondents were keen to undertake ongoing training on products and common conditions (see panel below), Richard said that it quickly became clear when analysing replies that time pressures were a common barrier to participation and completion rates.

One person stated: “We may only have a couple of minutes to read an article in work and even then it is usually a lunchtime.” Some of those responding to the survey said that workload was also impacting on the level of service they felt able to offer customers purchasing OTC medicines, continued Richard. Comments made about being too busy to fully follow the WWHAM sales protocol – and angry responses from customers at the number of questions they are expected to answer – perhaps shine some light on reports published over the last decade by consumer magazine Which?, which have highlighted the inconsistency of advice providedby those working in community pharmacies, he suggested.

Pharmacy Magazine editor Richard Thomas presents the survey results 

 

Alison Blenkinsopp, pharmacy practice professor at Bradford University’s School of Pharmacy and one of the inventors of WWHAM, pointed out that the questioning protocol was invented in the 1980s as a way of getting pharmacists and their staff to think about what they needed to know when selling OTC medicines, and urged people to move on. Richard agreed, urging SMART delegates to think about the quality of their customer interactions rather than just viewing OTC sales as transactions. One of the areas highlighted as needing urgent attention was the lack of funding for protected learning time in pharmacy, meaning many staff members are expected to develop their knowledge and skills outside work time.

Richard called for training to become a contractual requirement, drawing attention to the fact that the current education framework for medicines counter assistants was developed over 20 years ago. He appealed for the pharmacy regulator and professional body to look at updating it.