APPLIED RESEARCH
Developing medicines pictogram
stickers via feedback from the
Pharmacy Patient Forum Group
Ishrat Ali
IPresc PgClinDip
MRPharmS
Walsall Healthcare NHS
Trust, West Midlands,
UK; Walsall CCG, Walsall,
West Midlands, UK
Email: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
AIMS To design pictogram stickers to help overcome
communication barriers in identifying medicines.
METHOD A Pharmacy Patient Forum Group was set
up and involved in delivering an improved pharmacy
service.
RESULTS Pictogram stickers have been designed for
cardiology, indigestion, and pain medication.
CONCLUSION A pictorial approach is a simple,
novel and innovative way to identify indications of
medicines.
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust provides local,
general hospital and community services
to around 270,000 people in Walsall and the
surrounding areas. 1 There has been a significant
demographical shift in Walsall over the past
decade.
Figure 1 shows a snapshot of the Borough
summary of the Census Report for 2011: 2
• ‘White British’ remains the largest single group
population, while the number of residents from
a minority ethnic group has risen to almost one
in four from the previous census
• The largest increase is in people of Asian
background, within this group; those of Pakistani
background have increased the most.
The census results highlight the prevalence
of poor literacy in this population:
• In 3.3% of households, no one speaks English
as their main language
• There are more than 6000 residents who cannot
FIGURE 1
Ethnic groups in Walsall
Broad ethnic group as % of residents
■ White British (77%)
■ All other white (2%)
■ Mixed (3%)
■ Asian (15%)
■ Black (2%)
■ Other (1%)
speak English well, of whom 1200 cannot speak the
language at all.
Compared with the national picture, Walsall
has a high proportion of residents over 16 with
no qualifications or low qualifications (at level
1). One in three Walsall adults has no formal
qualifications – which equates to over 71,800
people (33.7%) compared with a national figure of
22.7%. In addition, a further 14.6% of residents only
have level 1 qualifications compared with 13.3% in
England and Wales. This indicates almost half of
Walsall’s adult population do not have qualifications
equivalent to five passes at GCSE (level 2), which
highlights the issue of limited literacy in this
population.
The Pharmacy Department at Walsall Healthcare
NHS Trust has set up a Pharmacy Patient Forum
Group (PPFG). The main aim of the PPFG is to
engage patients in the co-design of innovative ideas
to enhance patient safety and experience. This
would support in delivery of the Trust’s objective
to become best-in-class for patient experience.
The main project to date has been designing
pictogram stickers that illustrate the indications
of medicines in an attempt to overcome
communication barriers in identifying medicines.
The treatment of long-term illnesses usually includes
long-term use of medicines. Although guidelines
and research provides information that these
combinations of medicines are effective, their full
benefit is often not achieved as up to 50% of patients
do not take their medicines as prescribed. 3 Following
our work with the PPFG, there are currently four
approved pictogram stickers.
Methods
Public members we recruited by invitation, using
a database held by the Trust. All members on the
database were sent a letter to express interest in
participating in the PPFG. These members were
invited to attend an initial meeting and ‘signed
up’. Meetings are arranged approximately every six
weeks and attended by:
• The Trust membership and engagement manager
• Pharmacy staff – senior pharmacist and ward-based
services technical manager
• Trust members – who may also be involved in
volunteering work around the Trust
Initially, all members of the PPFG were given a
complementary tour of the pharmacy department
where they could see the workforce in action and
appreciate the workload of the team. The tour
included:
• Dispensary
• Aseptic unit
24 | Issue 91 | 2019 | hospitalpharmacyeurope.com