Imperial College London
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Dr Austen El-Osta

Faculty of Medicine, School of Public Health

Primary Care Research Manager
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 7604a.el-osta Website

 
 
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Location

 

323Reynolds BuildingCharing Cross Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Poe:2022,
author = {Poe, M and Vegas, R and El-Osta, A},
journal = {International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP)},
title = {Empowering self-care: A handbook for pharmacists},
url = {https://www.fip.org/file/5111},
year = {2022}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Supporting and empowering individuals to responsibly engage in self-care is an important part of pharmacists’ daily practice around the world. Self-care spans the whole wellness spectrum, from disease prevention to the management of symptoms and common ailments. It also encompasses interventions ranging from advice on non-prescription medicines and medical devices (often described as “over the counter”) to education on healthy diets, hygiene and mindfulness practices.1 The ability to engage in self-care empowers individuals to act on their own health and well-being, and it encourages the inclusion of their input and specific needs when making healthcare decisions. Self-care empowers people and societies to transform health. Moreover, to promote health equity, health literacy is needed, and there is significant room for improvement and for greater research in this field.Self-care has been conceptualised through internationally recognised frameworks.2 The Self-Care Matrix is a widely accessible framework that conveys the concept of the “totality” of self-care by highlighting the inter-relationships between four cardinal dimensions of self-care. These dimensions are: 1. Person-centred self-care activities; 2. Self-care behaviours; 3. Self-care in the context of resource utilisation; and4. The prevailing environment as a key enabler of self-care practice.Self-care is an important contributor to universal health coverage (UHC) through savings in healthcare expenditure and the reallocation of resources by means of reduced use and pressure on healthcare systems.For example, patient education and assessment conducted by pharmacists in addition to supporting the informed choice of non-prescription medicines could relieve the burden placed on healthcare systems, such as in primary care facilities or emergency departments, from patients seeking consultation for minor ailments, and lessen the reliance on prescription-only medicines.
AU  - Poe,M
AU  - Vegas,R
AU  - El-Osta,A
PY  - 2022///
TI  - Empowering self-care: A handbook for pharmacists
T2  - International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP)
UR  - https://www.fip.org/file/5111
ER  -
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