Services and dynamic activities of hospital pharmacy are affecting public health and welfare. Outpatient pharmacy is a section of hospital pharmacy department that is required to provide the following scope of services and activities to hospital customers: 1. Delivery of medication-related services to outpatients and health care providers working within hospital premises
The diagnosis of SLE is based on criteria set by the American College of Rheumatology. Management is individualized and depends on presenting symptoms and reducing the likelihood of permanent damage to organs and tissues.
There is a need for extra care and overcoming barriers to diabetes control in old patients as a dynamic and a continuous task that needs coordination of healthcare systems and professionals at all levels of care.
Introduction: Diabetes mellitus is approaching epidemic proportions in most countries and has captured the attention of physicians at local, national and global levels. The elderly population remains at a higher risk for diabetes mellitus [1], and the disease poses unique concerns for geriatricians, primary care physicians, nurses, diabetic educators and pharmacists who provide care to the elderly. Safe and effective use of diabetes medications depend on the extent of patient`s understanding, knowledge and actions. Such actions relate strongly to people's health literacy. Health literacy is defined as 'The ability to make sound health decisions in the context of everyday life-at home, in the community, at the workplace, the health care system, the market place and the political arena [2]. Discussion: The US Institute of Medicine report, "Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion" [3], reported that low health literacy negatively affects the treatment outcome and safety of care delivery. People concerned, especially elderly are more likely to be admitted to hospital, and they may stay longer and be less likely to take their medicines and/or make errors with those medicines [3]. Health literacy covers a wide range of activities, and older patients ability to make good decisions about medicines, and use them safely and effectively, is an important part of healthcare practice. Low health literacy is a factor that underpins the wider issue of health equity, since getting the best outcome of a health system is a complex issue and arguably requires high levels of health literacy. Collaborative efforts are continually needed to allocate and maximize utilization of resources to help empower older adults with diabetes to overcome literacy barriers to optimize their disease management. Conclusion: Healthcare providers must tailor individualized treatment methods with emphasis on addressing patient literacy to achieve the ultimate goal of optimizing pharmacotherapy of diabetes in elderly population to improving the quality of life for this vulnerable population. J ou rna l o f D ia be tes & M e ta bolism
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.