RESUMO
Background: Visual impairment can significantly affect a person's ability to take medications safely. Therefore, pharmacists need to ensure safe and effective access to medication information, particularly through the use of assistive products, which are devices that compensate for partial or total vision loss. Although assistive products are used by visually impaired patients for activities of daily living, their use in medication management needs to be more widespread. Objective: The study aimed to investigate community pharmacists' opinions and excpectations on the use of assistive products in pharmacy practice to optimize and secure medications use for visually impaired patients. The goal is to transfer these assistive products to pharmacy practice. Methods: Focus groups were conducted with 6 French-speaking community pharmacists via videoconference in Belgium, following the principle of participatory action-research. The participants were recruited voluntarily, and moderator's guides were developed to lead the discussion. The focus groups were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed in a double-blind fashion using thematic analysis. The data were organized by NVivo software. Results: Four themes were identified: easy-to-use assistive products according to pharmacists, usefulness of assistive products in pharmacy practice, barriers to the use of assistive products, and potential solutions. According to community pharmacists, certain assistive products were deemed easy-to-use and transferable to pharmacy practice. Conclusions: This qualitative study demonstrates the transferability of assistive products to pharmacy practice for visually impaired patients in medications use. The study taken into account the patient's profile and the multidisciplinary approach, which community pharmacists consider essential.
RESUMO
Although non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) presents as an intricate condition characterized by a growing prevalence, the often-recommended lifestyle interventions mostly lack high-level evidence of efficacy and there are currently no effective drugs proposed for this indication. The present review delves into NAFLD pathology, its diverse underlying physiopathological mechanisms and the available in vitro, in vivo, and clinical evidence regarding the use of natural compounds for its management, through three pivotal targets (oxidative stress, cellular inflammation, and insulin resistance). The promising perspectives that natural compounds offer for NAFLD management underscore the need for additional clinical and lifestyle intervention trials. Encouraging further research will contribute to establishing more robust evidence and practical recommendations tailored to patients with varying NAFLD grades.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Visual impairment is a disability that can have a significant impact on the ability to take medication safely. As a result, pharmacists must adjust their practice to provide targeted and adapted support for this type of patient. AIM: The aims of the present study were (1) to illustrate the usual clinical practice of community pharmacists to support the optimisation of medication use in visually impaired patients, and (2) to identify solutions to improve pharmaceutical care for visually impaired patients. METHOD: Semi-structured interviews with 18 French-speaking community pharmacists were conducted via videoconference in Belgium. Participants were recruited on a voluntary basis and through a snowball method. An interview guide was developed based on literature review. Interviews were carried out until theoretical saturation of the data, recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. Data were organised by NVivo Software. RESULTS: Four themes were identified: community pharmacists' training, identification of visually impaired patients by the pharmacist, communication with visually impaired patients and their proxies, and provision of appropriate pharmaceutical care. Participants stated that they had not received any training regarding visual impairment. They described that they did not always know how to recognise visually impaired patients and that communication was often difficult. CONCLUSION: This qualitative study has highlighted a lack of knowledge and skills among community pharmacists regarding visual impairment. One possible solution could be to develop recommendations and tools to improve the care of these patients.