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Supporting Medicine Use by Older People with Visual and/or Hearing Impairment

Examine the medicine-related challenges that older people with sensory impairment experience and how we can improve their care with this online course from the University of Strathclyde.

Duration

4 weeks

Weekly study

3 hours

100% online

How it works

Unlimited subscription

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Understand medicines management for older people with sensory impairment

Many countries are experiencing ageing populations. Older people are more likely to have long-term health conditions and to use multiple medicines to manage these. In addition, older people are also more likely to experience visual and/or hearing impairment (also called sensory impairment).

On this four-week course, you’ll learn how to support the safe and effective use of medicines by older people with sensory impairment.

Older people with sensory impairment (visual and/or hearing) can experience multiple difficulties at every stage of their medicine journey – from ordering and obtaining to storing and administering their medicines.

On the course, you’ll learn about the medicine-related challenges faced by older people with sensory impairment as well as the potential solutions to address these challenges. 

Discover strategies for person-centred care 

With an understanding of the difficulties older people with sensory impairment face, you’ll learn about techniques and strategies to support their safe, effective, and person-centred use of medicines.

You’ll discover the importance of communication before learning about the technologies that can help to support older people with sensory impairment.

Finally, you’ll learn practical skills about being person-centred in consultations and interactions with older people with sensory impairment and their medicines. 

Learn from the experts at the University of Strathclyde

Throughout the course, you will be guided by specialists from the University of Strathclyde. With their expertise, you’ll develop the knowledge to support the safe and effective use of medicines by older people with sensory impairment.  

Week 1
An introduction to supporting the safe and effective use of medicines by older people with sensory impairment insert here
- Welcome to the course
  We are delighted you have joined us! In this section you will find out about the course overall, how you will learn, and meet your educators.
- Welcome to Week 1
  Welcome to the first week of the course. This week, we will learn about sensory impairment and medicines optimisation.
- Sensory impairment
  In this section we will discuss the prevalence of hearing and/or visual impairment in older people and consider how sensory impairment may affect their ability to manage their medicines safely and effectively.
- Medicines Optimisation
  Here we will introduce the four guiding principles of medicines optimisation and reflect on how these principles can be applied to the care of older people with sensory impairment.
- End of week task
  As we come to the end of week 1, we'll take a moment to reflect on what we've learned so far.
Week 2
Medicines management challenges of older people with sensory loss and impairment
- Welcome to Week 2
  Welcome to the second week of the course. This week we will look at how the medicine journey impacts older people with sensory impairment.
- Medicines and older people
  As we age we are more likely to develop long-term conditions and to use more medicines. We discuss the impact of polypharmacy on older people with sensory impairment, and the resulting challenges they experience.
- Medicines Journey
  In this section we discuss the medicines journey - from consultation to disposal of medicines. We focus on challenges for older people with sensory impairment at each stage of the medicines journey.
- End of week task
  As we come to the end of week 2, we'll take a moment to reflect on what we've learned so far.
Week 3
Effective strategies to support safe, effective and person-centered medicines management for older people with sensory impairment and loss
- Welcome to week 3
  Welcome to the third week of the course. This week, we will introduce effective strategies to support safe and effective medicines management.
- Communication and support of OPwSI
  Good communication enables healthcare professionals to tailor prescribed medicines to the individual's needs and abilities to promote safe and effective use of medicines.
- Developing strategies and solutions to support OPwSI and their medicines
  In this section we consider strategies and solutions that could be used to improve care of older people with sensory impairment and their medicines.
- End of week task
  As we come to the end of week 3, we'll take a moment to reflect on what we've learned so far.
Week 4
Practice person-centered medicines management support for older people with sensory loss and impairment.
- Welcome to week 4
  Welcome to the fourth and final week of the course. The content will focus on the practice of person-centered medicines management and how to support older people with sensory loss and impairment.
- Person-centered care
  In this section we look at person-centred care in the context of our three personas and consider legal requirements for information provision.
- Why this matters?
  Why safe and supporting medicines care is important?
- End of course task
  As we come to the end of the course, we'll test our knowledge of what we have learned over the past four weeks.
- Summary and Thank you
  We would like to thank everybody who has taken part in this course and we really hope you enjoyed learning with us.