What is the Pharmacy NSAIDs toolkit?
The NSAIDs toolkit aims to improve safety for patients taking these medications. There are two bundles to address this.
- NSAIDs Safer Care Bundle – This bundle aims to improve the clinical care of patients who take NSAIDs in addition to other medication. It acts as a prompt to pharmacists to consider key points, including a patient needs assessment and identification of ‘high risk’ patients along with potential interventions when processing a prescription for NSAIDs.
- NSAIDs Communication Care Bundle – This bundle supports pharmacy teams to deliver key messages to patients being dispensed or purchasing NSAIDs.
Are you a dispensing GP practice? View the NSAIDS toolkit for dispensing GPs
You can find out more about our NSAIDs toolkit resources below.
NSAIDs Safer Care bundle for Pharmacists
This bundle which aims to improve the clinical care of patients who take NSAIDs in addition to other medication contains:
Each bundle includes a toolkit guidance booklet, an awareness poster as reminder to staff. The bundle also includes a data collection sheet and four run chart sheets, for teams to track their data. If your team prefers to capture data electronically, data can be entered into the Excel data collection tool. The electronic data collection tool will produce charts for both the Communication and Safer Care Bundle elements.
Download our NSAIDs Excel data collection tool
Supporting materials
- Our FAQs may answer any questions you have about the Safer Care bundle.
- Triple Whammy list which contains the most common medications.
- Professional references list for pharmacists.
- NHS Education for Scotland Quality Improvement Zone
NSAIDs Communication Care Bundle for all pharmacy staff
This bundle supports pharmacy teams to deliver key messages to patients being dispensed or purchasing NSAIDS. The NSAIDs Communication Care bundle guide includes information on how to use the following resources:
Resources to support implementation:
- NSAIDs safety message till prompts
- NSAIDs stickers
- NSAIDs safety information cards
- Medicines Sick Day Rules cards
- Medicines Sick Day Rules patient leaflet
- Medicines Sick Day Rules professional leaflet
Resources required for data collection:
If your team prefers to capture data electronically, data can be entered into the Excel data collection tool. The electronic data collection tool will produce charts for both the Communication and Safer Care Bundle elements.
Download our NSAIDs Excel data collection tool for the communication bundle
Supporting materials
- Our 2-minute video guide provides basic information on how to implement the NSAIDs Communication Care Bundle. It should be used with the Communication Care Bundle Guide.
- NHS Education for Scotland Quality Improvement Zone
Local printing
Print-ready versions of the Medicine Sick Day Rules card and leaflets are available to download along with guidance for external print companies. A print-ready version of the NSAIDs Safety Information card is available to download.
Further supplies are expected to be managed locally.
Evaluation
Healthcare Improvement Scotland and the University of Strathclyde worked together to evaluate the NSAIDs toolkit for community pharmacies in Scotland.
Access the evaluation report to find out more.