Tiêu đề 27. FAMILY PLANNING – ROLE OF PHARMACIST.pdf ✅

PHARMD GURU Page 2 2) CHOICE OF PRODUCT: Pharmacies usually offer choice of family planning products including condoms, spermicidal creams and jellies, oral contraceptives, intra uterine devices and injectables. 3) CHOICE OF PROVIDER:  People go to shop at pharmacies which is closer to their physician's clinic (or) to their homes.  Customers are more likely to ask a druggist for family planning advice, if the drug store is in the neighborhood.  Customer’s other considerations are: a) Social contact b) Confidentiality and c) The gender of the pharmacist a) Social Contacts: In some places, the pharmacist is a family friend. People may go to a pharmacy even to chat when they do not need a drug or a medical device. b) Confidentiality and Anonymity: Some of the customers do not want others to know that they are using contraceptives. They may go to a pharmacist rather than to a clinic, because they do not have to give their names to pharmacists. Customers may also prefer not to go to a pharmacist whom they know or to one who lives in their neighborhood. A private consultation room or an area in a pharmacy can encourage clients asking for pharmacist and seek advice. c) Gender: Female customers may prefer to talk to a female pharmacist or clerk about contraception. Pharmacists in Paraguay reported that women prefer to talk to female pharmacy employees about contraception. 4) FREE INFORMATION AND ADVICE:  Many people, particularly the poor and uneducated, go to the pharmacies first when they need medical advice. Pharmacist's advice is free and is in a lay man's language.  Pharmacists allow more control to customers over their treatment and over the client provider interaction than what physicians can do.  Customers in pharmacy often ask for family planning information. Many pharmacists provide it.

PHARMD GURU Page 4  Support the development of social marketing programs of contraceptives.  Learn about local family planning clinics and establish a relationship with them.  Promote image of the pharmacist as a provider of family planning supplies and information.  Work with pharmacist’s organizations to encourage their members to promote family planning.  Work with other medical professionals to promote family planning.  Promote changes in laws, wherever necessary, to allow pharmacists to dispense contraceptives without a doctor's prescription.  Endorse family planning publicly, especially in the media.  Work with pharmacy colleges to upgrade their curriculum as related to family planning and to offer a course in communication and counseling techniques.  Advise a woman to see a doctor before giving oral contraceptives, especially in a known diabetic or hypertensive woman.