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Home  »   National Association of Women Pharmacists • Latest News   »   NAWP Newsletter – February 2022

NAWP Newsletter – February 2022

Welcome to the latest issue of the NAWP newsletter - the quarterly mailing that keeps you up-to-date on news, events and issues that relate to women in pharmacy.

Thu 17th February 2022 The PDA

Welcome to the NAWP February 2022 Newsletter

In this issue:

  • Putting Cancer on the Community Pharmacy Map
  • Ethical conflicts in pharmacy: 15th European Women Pharmacists meeting
  • Let’s start a new period!
  • IWD2022 EVENT: #BreakTheBias – Empowering women to challenge bias in the workplace
  • PDA attends ACAS menopause briefings
  • In case you missed it…
  • Follow the NAWP Network on social media

 

Putting Cancer on the Community Pharmacy Map

By Dr Jackie Lewis, Pharmacist Director of Lewis Pharmacy 
 

Ten years ago, cancer was definitely not on the community pharmacy agenda and yet we see patients with cancer every day. I set out to see how we could help our cancer patients and noticed I was doing MURs on people who were on chemotherapy and I didn’t know about it.
I was also advising on suspected red flag cancer symptoms, neutropenic sepsis and rashes from radiotherapy. Fast forward through ten years of hard work, collaboration and communication and I have developed tools and education for the whole pharmacy team.

The Not Normal For You service I designed and evaluated is free to use. It helps pharmacy staff recognise suspected red flag cancer symptoms and encourages self-referral to the GP.

Let’s Communicate Cancer is a comprehensive e-learning programme. Free to access via Bopa.org.uk, it will take around 5 hours and covers the whole cancer pathway in bite-sized learning chunks. Crucially it is for the whole pharmacy team because most interactions do not start with the pharmacist.

I hope we can now say that cancer is firmly on the community pharmacy agenda. We have so much to offer our patients and the NHS at every stage of the cancer pathway.
READ MORE

Learn more

Ethical conflicts in pharmacy: 15th European Women Pharmacists meeting 

By Dr Christine Heading, past President of NAWP
 

One of the characteristic features of these European Women Pharmacists’ Meetings is that they are educational rather than training events. This meeting was no exception.

The meeting was hosted from Romania in November 2021, but regrettably the meeting needed to be virtual for the second year due to Covid-19. Speakers from five countries contributed online to pharmacists logged on all across Europe.
The theme was Ethical Conflicts in Pharmacy, and it was soon clear that there was far too little recognition within pharmacist education, training or professional development that such conflicts were part of modern professional life. Reporting on an academic study, Katherin Wernecke reported on the scale of experience of ‘moral distress’ experienced by community pharmacists in Germany; Wilma Göttgens from the Netherlands explained that the value of teaching students how to cope within a philosophical context was being explored; and from the PDA’s Alima Batchelor, we heard how newly qualified and other inexperienced pharmacists were at particular risk of being placed in ethically challenging situations.
In terms of what was being done to try and maintain ethical standards, we heard from Doina Draganescu on how Romania’s clinical trials regulations had evolved as both Romania’s political governance and global conventions developed. From Austria, we heard from Elfriede Dolinar on how human rights relating to medicines’ access was being monitored for prison inmates.

The shared message was that whereas it is convenient for the profession to treat all scenarios as individual problems to be addressed with specific solutions, in today’s world, the issue of ethical conflicts needs to be tackled holistically.

 
READ MORE

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Get involved 

  • Join the European Women Pharmacists Facebook group here

Let’s start a new period!

By Ayah Abbass, NAWP Network Committee Member and Community/GP Pharmacist
 

Growing up I had always been told to hide the fact that I was on my period. I was told it should be very private, so I always carried that thought in my mind and never spoke about it until one day at work, I couldn’t cope. I tried to hide it as much as I could, but I had such terrible cramps that I couldn’t stand up.My amazing dispenser was scared that something big was going on. I remember whispering “I’m so sorry but I’m on my period.” Honestly, the support I got was incredible. I also work with a male dispenser, so I felt embarrassed saying it to him as well, but I feel it’s important not to suffer in silence. If we want to empower women and the wider pharmacist workforce, we need to take into account health aspects that can affect those menstruating at our workplace.

I’m sure many of us have had that experience at work where we’ve been rushing around trying to get a sanitary product and hiding it from the world. I believe that we should be offered sanitary supplies at work. At my workplace, I ensured some supplies were in place for anyone who is menstruating.

 
READ MORE

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IWD2022 EVENT: #BreakTheBias – Empowering women to challenge bias in the workplace

Wednesday 9 March 2022 7.30 pm – 9.00 pm on Microsoft Teams
 

As part of the International Women’s Day (IWD2022) celebration, the National Association of Women Pharmacists (NAWP) would like to promote a gender-equal pharmacy workplace, free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination – a pharmacy workforce that is diverse, equitable and inclusive.

If you have lived experience of bias in the workplace, for example including but not exclusively: unconscious bias, gender or transgender bias leading to salary differences, denial of part-time working, flexible working or other rights after maternity – we invite you to share your story during this online event or via chat in the live session. We hope you will receive positive input from working with a team that celebrates and values diversity and would like to share the possibilities and results achieved.

To show solidarity and to support you throughout the session, members of other PDA equality networks and PDA staff will be present to provide you with the tools and confidence to challenge the bias. Together we can all #BreakTheBias – look out for further information on this live event closer to the time.

PDA attends ACAS menopause briefings  

By Ruth Williams, Legal Advisor at PDA Defence Services 
 

PDA Legal Advisor, Ruth Williams, attended a series of briefings around the menopause during Autumn 2021. Below, Ruth provides key information from the briefings for members.

Did you know that a CIPD Bupa survey revealed that almost a million women say they left their employment because of the menopause?

Effects of the menopause on employment

Experiencing the menopause (or perimenopause) can affect employees in many ways, but typically in the areas of:

  • Performance and attendance
  • Sleep and concentration
  • Increased sickness absence
  • Increased workload on team members
  • Relationships at work
  • Career progression.
READ MORE

Learn more

 

In case you missed it…

  • The CPC and Pharmacy Show Women in Pharmacy recordings can be found here
  • Join the NAWP Facebook group here

 

Follow the NAWP Network on social media

During Cervical Cancer Screening Awareness Week, NAWP shared various resources and information to encourage, educate and empower members to attend their cervical screening appointments. NAWP updated their Facebook page every day during the week to raise awareness amongst members and are constantly working to discuss issues of relevance to the network. To join the Facebook group, please click here.

Not a fan of Facebook? Use #PDAnawp on Twitter and Instagram to post on issues relevant to women pharmacists and to suggest recommended reading for allies of the network.

NAWP has previously produced factsheets around ovarian cancer, cervical cancer and the menopause. If you have ideas about what areas of women’s health NAWP could address next, please email nawp@the-pda.org
VISIT THE NAWP NETWORK PAGE

 

 

 

 

 

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