Case scenario

Natasha, a 23-year-old woman, presents to the pharmacy to speak to the pharmacist following a recent cold. She has nasal congestion, sinus tenderness, dental pain, fever (38.5 °C) and general malaise. Natasha has been using a non-prescription saline sinus flush with no apparent effect. Her friend Molly had similar symptoms months ago and told Natasha a full course of antibiotics solved her problems straight away. A full-time lawyer, Natasha says she must return to work as soon as possible and would like the quickest solution. She asks if antibiotics would be appropriate to alleviate her symptoms. 

Learning objectives

After successful completion of this CPD activity, pharmacists should be able to:

  • Describe the statistical measures used in medical literature, number needed to treat, number needed to harm, number needed to screen and number unnecessarily treated
  • Identify statistical measures used to calculate number needed to treat
  • Interpret statistical measures reported in medical literature to inform practice and patient care
  • Communicate risk to patients using number needed to treat pictographs. 

Competency standards (2016) addressed: 1.5, 2.3, 3.5 ,5.3

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