Self Care cards – not just the facts

PSA Self Care Fact Cards are an ideal aid to connect with your community.

The PSA Self Care Fact Cards are an invaluable resource designed to give evidence-based information to patients on common health topics. The engaging visual media breaks down the condition into sections on symptoms, causes, treatment options and self-care management in language that is both informative and easy to understand.  

The fact cards are available online, which provide a resource for both patients and pharmacy assistants to refer to at any point. Pharmacies can purchase access to Self Care Fact Cards through the PSA website.

How have the resources educated pharmacy assistants?

The PSA Self Care Fact Cards are a vital resource for pharmacy assistants when providing counselling on minor ailments and over-the-counter products. The nature of the visual platform combined with the comprehensive, yet simplistic information empowers pharmacy assistants to provide holistic and quality healthcare information.

The resources are easily accessible within the pharmacy and cover a wide range of conditions, allowing our pharmacy assistants to be confident in improving the outcomes of our patients. Both the treatment options and self-care management options allow assistants to provide an appropriate over-the-counter treatment, as well as increasing the health literacy of the patient with lifestyle and non-medicated advice.

Additionally, the Self Care Fact Cards provide additional points of contact relevant to the health condition, allowing pharmacy assistants to support consumers.

How has the use of fact cards added to your consumer’s experience?

The use of the PSA Self Care Fact Cards adds to the consumer experience within the pharmacy in a variety of ways, particularly providing appropriate education to our patients. The cards are colourful and informative and help the consumer effectively and meaningfully engage with their health status and interactions with the health sector.

The information provided within the cards is easy to understand, helping to overcome poor health literacy and language barriers. The cards also assist in reassuring nervous patients, and an interaction that uses the cards helps to build necessary rapport between staff and consumers.

It is this therapeutic relationship that forms the basis of an effective health partnership and allows the consumer to make the most of their interactions with pharmacy and the wider healthcare system.

Information and education are key to empowering consumers to take better control of their health status and improve their health literacy, and the PSA Self Care Fact Cards facilitate the initiation of this process.

Increasing patient health literacy

The PSA Self Care Fact Cards have proven critical in providing easy-to-access evidence-based healthcare information to pharmacy assistants and consumers. They are an effective resource in improving the counselling skills of pharmacy assistants and allows them to engage in meaningful therapeutic conversations with patients.

The cards provide the opportunity to increase the health literacy and outcomes of patients, and the treatment advice and self-care information is critical in providing holistic health care that is consistent with the ideals of future pharmacy to our patients.

To learn more about the PSA Self Care program, and how it can support your pharmacy, click here.

Elise Apolloni is a Pharmacist and Managing Partner at Capital Chemist Wanniassa. She is also a credentialed Diabetes Educator, qualified Asthma Educator, accredited Telephone Crisis Support with Lifeline Canberra and Mental Health First Aid Trainer.