As consultas de nutrição em farmácia : análise das perceções e experiências dos profissionais envolvidos

Abstract

The World Health Organization considers health promotion a priority. Nutrition, weight management and physical activity are necessary strategies to increase the quality of life and decrease the personal and social consequences of poor health. The community pharmacy is in the best position to implement health promotion strategies because of its excellent accessibility. Making people able to change their lifestyle and control their health through nutrition education and nutritional counseling are great opportunities for pharmacy in health promotion. Portugal is one of the few countries where legislation allows nutrition consultations to be carried out by nutritionists in community pharmacies. In most countries, nutrition consultations in pharmacies are non-existent and pharmacists provide nutritional counseling to patients during consultation. These consultations depend on the pharmacy space and interprofessional collaboration. This study aims to analyze pharmacists' perception of nutrition consultations. In Portugal, would it be possible to carry out only this nutrition advice. What is the reason for having nutrition consultations in a community pharmacy and are pharmacists willing to collaborate with nutritionists are the questions we want to answer. To answer all these questions, an observational, exploratory, cross-sectional case study was carried out with pharmaceutical participants from several cities in Portugal. The urgency in the training of pharmacists regarding food supplements is notorious. Pharmaceutical counseling is influenced by the professional's lack of knowledge and conflicting ethical issues arise due to the profit associated with supplements sold at the pharmacy. The collaboration between Pharmacists and Nutritionists is seen as an asset. It increases the effectiveness of nutritional monitoring, improves the communication skills of both professionals, helps in the identification of the patient's problems and increases the teamwork capacity of professionals. In general, professionals are satisfied with nutrition consultations in community pharmacy. Cross-selling, health promotion and accessibility were presented as the biggest advantages of consultations in these establishments. The alliance with supplements, the lack of space in the pharmacy and the increase in the workload of the team were presented as the biggest disadvantages. Pharmacists have little knowledge about the nutritionists' needs to carry out a quality consultation. The Pharmacy is referred to as a place of first line of health, provision of services and of easy access to the user. As such it is an ideal location for health promotion. The opinion of Pharmacists and Nutritionists converged: both suggest increasing time, improving space, increasing the price of consultations and greater dissemination as improvements to the service. Consultations can improve if there is collaboration between professionals, better communication and a focus on patient health literacy. 92% of pharmacists report not having adequate training to provide nutritional advice. 54% agree with the possibility of nutritional counseling and 46% disagree.

Date of Award	2022
Original language	Portuguese
Supervisor	João Pedro Bernardo Gregório (Supervisor)