Safe Medicines for Seniors: A Workshop for Caregivers
The workshop tool kit is designed to help service providers give workshops
to caregivers, to inform and educate them on the safe use of medicine.
Potential facilitators include people who routinely come in contact with
caregivers, such as home and community care/support professionals and
para-professionals, including caregiver support workers, registered nurses,
licensed practical nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists,
social workers, case managers and community pharmacists.
There is no requirement to be a physician or a pharmacist, but a health
care professional with knowledge of the safe use of medicines must be
on hand to answer questions.
The workshop tool kit will be available for downloading in the Fall of
2007. It consists of the Facilitator's Manual, a binder containing:
- Facilitator’s guide: geared toward anyone with some facilitating
experience, it is designed to assist service providers to give workshops
to caregivers. This section includes a rationale for developing the
workshop, instructions and suggestions for facilitation, information
on setting the climate and choosing a location, and a materials checklist.
- Workshop curriculum: explains the caregiver’s role; side effects;
common mistakes and problems with medicine; seniors and medicine, and
how to use Safe
Medicines for Seniors: A Guide for Caregivers. A slide presentation
covering these topics is included in the workshop manual.
- A hard copy of the slide presentation with room for notes can be photocopied
for participants.
- A CD-Rom that includes PowerPoint slides of the workshop and pdf versions
of the other tools.
- Appendices: additional information on where to go for help, optional
case studies, poster templates for promoting the workshop and a medication
record.
- Workshop evaluation form.
The booklet Safe
Medicines for Seniors: A Guide for Caregivers is designed to
be used together with the workshop or on its own.
Community pharmacists, an important part of the process, can either facilitate
themselves or provide a venue for a workshop. Encouraging links between
facilitators and community pharmacists is key to promoting the safe use
of medicines by caregivers. In some cases, pharmacists can be recruited
to facilitate and provide the workshops, or local pharmacists can provide
the venue for other health care providers who are trained as facilitators
to disseminate the tools, resources and knowledge to caregivers. In either
scenario, the cornerstone of effective communication and promotion of
the safe use of medicine by caregivers is the link between the facilitator
and community pharmacist.
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