{"id":131069,"date":"2021-03-31T12:00:57","date_gmt":"2021-03-31T10:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medios.uchceu.es\/actualidad-ceu\/?p=131069"},"modified":"2023-04-27T12:20:53","modified_gmt":"2023-04-27T10:20:53","slug":"ensuring-that-patients-are-fully-informed-means-they-can-take-better-decisions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medios.uchceu.es\/actualidad-ceu\/en\/ensuring-that-patients-are-fully-informed-means-they-can-take-better-decisions\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cEnsuring that patients are fully informed means they can take better decisions\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hern\u00e1n Ramos is a pharmacist by vocation. After studying\u00a0Pharmacy\u00a0and\u00a0Nutrition\u00a0at the CEU Cardenal Herrera University, he\u2019s now preparing a doctoral thesis on the early recognition of cognitive impairment. In this interview, he tells us what it has been like working in a pharmacy during the pandemic over the last year, highlighting the importance of the advice pharmacists can give and the wider role they play.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI always wanted to study pharmacy and I don\u2019t regret it\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"Interview with Hern\u00e1n Ramos during the lockdown:\u00a0Dispensing medicines out of hours.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The pandemic in Spain is now a year old and, throughout that year, community pharmacists have been on the front line. What has it been like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Very hard. We saw the risks early on. We started to see more people buying facemasks in the months before the pandemic was declared. We did think that it would come here and that it would be serious, but it still took us by surprise. It\u2019s been a difficult year. At first, because of the uncertainty and the patients we see<\/strong>. And also because we have to provide information to patients and so we had to learn quickly about the virus, about treatments, about the different types of mask and how to use them correctly. We had to acquire and organize all that information quickly to be able offer patients the service they needed.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A lot of information in very little time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When I\u2019m in the pharmacy, I always try to ensure that patients are fully informed because that means they can take better decisions<\/strong>, adhere more closely to their treatment plan and understand their illness better. In the end, the better informed you are, the better the clinical outcome is likely to be. When you understand the illness and when you know how your treatment interacts with it, then you\u2019re more likely to take steps to protect your health and to adhere more closely to the treatment plan. Information improves health.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that all the information that a pharmacy provides is important\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Has the pharmacist-patient relationship changed over the past year?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I think\u00a0we\u2019ve all suffered from disinformation during the pandemic<\/strong>. Pharmacists had to provide information directly, clearly, and based on the evidence. I think that has been the key role that pharmacists have had to play during this crisis<\/strong>. We had to address all our patients\u2019 questions and concerns, in the best way possible and based on what we know.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As healthcare professionals on the front line, have you been vaccinated?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, this month. The pharmacists who were older than 55 have been vaccinated late, just a week ago. Too late, in my opinion.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hern\u00e1n, why did you choose Pharmacy as your degree?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s something that comes right from my childhood. My dad had a small pharmacy, in a village in the countryside, and so I saw him at work when I was little. And then there were two healthcare role models at home \u2013 my mum\u2019s a psychologist and my dad\u2019s a pharmacist \u2013 but I didn\u2019t experience the psychological side as much as I did the pharmaceutical side.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always wanted to study pharmacy and I don\u2019t regret it\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You studied Pharmacy first and then Nutrition.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When I did Pharmacy, I realized that it is perhaps the last stage in the service provided to the patient. The prevention side of the process comes first, in the form of the clinical care provided by the doctor, and then the pharmacological part comes later, treating the illness. And the truth is that I wanted to participate in the initial prevention stage too.<\/strong> Nutrition has that preventative element to it, in which you can work on the risk factors and prevent disease.<\/strong> You can work to ensure people live healthy lives. Nutrition isn\u2019t just about eating the right food, but also about putting health strategies in place that can prevent the onset of disease.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And that kind of preventive care, of trying to prevent disease by addressing risk factors, is exactly what C\u00e1tedra De Co, the CEU research chair on the early detection of cognitive impairment, provides in conjunction with community pharmacies<\/a>. When did you become involved in this project?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 During my degree, my favourite course was Pharmacology. Lucrecia Moreno\u00a0is just a great lecturer! I knew that, if I did a doctorate, I would do it on pharmacology with Lucrecia. Three years ago, I spoke to her and she told me about the cognitive impairment project. I learnt about the earlier project, called\u00a0Ciudades Neuroprotegidas<\/strong><\/a>, and I met the team, and I liked it. It\u2019s true that it\u2019s difficult sometimes to juggle everything. Working in the pharmacy, dealing with the pandemic, and preparing a doctoral thesis \u2013 some days can be hard. But that\u2019s always the case when you\u2019re trying to bring a project to fruition.<\/p>\n