Training your team and ensuring everyone's knowledge is up-to-date are important CPD triggers. We suggest that you get the team together for a training session based on the activities below and discuss the various ways in which you can offer customers and patients added care in this category.

 

Subject: coughs

This Train Your Team checklist provides support and information to run a team training session on coughs. This content can also be used for your own CPD.

Reflection

• Do my staff know that OTC cough medicines are not suitable for children under the age of six years?
• Do they know that requests for OTC cough medicines for all children up to the age of 12 years should be referred to the pharmacist?
• Am I familiar with the BNF guidance on cough (section 3.9) and the MHRA guidance: ‘Codeine for cough and cold: restricted use in children’?
• Am I aware of the evidence base for the use of antibiotics in different types of cough in children?
• Can I identify the medicines that can cause cough? Can I advise prescribers on suitable substitutes?
• Can I explain to my assistants the difference between acute, sub-acute and chronic cough?

Training checklist

Ensure support staff understand the following key points:

• The importance of referring all requests for cough medicines for children under 12 years to the pharmacist
• The difference between and causes of an acute and a chronic cough
• The common causes of cough
• The infectious causes of cough (e.g. common cold/flu, bronchiolitis, croup, whooping cough, tuberculosis)
• Medicines such as ACE inhibitors can cause a dry cough
• Customers with cough who should be referred
• The lack of evidence supporting the benefits of cough mixtures but their value in soothing symptoms.

I will:

• Update my knowledge of cough and its management
• Reassess my and my staff’s interventions regarding cough
• Train my pharmacy assistants to ensure that they can meet the points in this training checklist and consider this training exercise for inclusion in my CPD record.