Welcome to the IPU Academy Spring Programme

Welcome to the IPU Academy Spring Programme, which follows our successful Autumn Programme, at which close to 1,500 attendances were recorded. Using your personal membership login, you can view and book online all the live learning courses in the IPU Academy Spring Programme.

The IPU Academy Spring Programme will deliver Continuing Education (CE) in traditional presentation format, i.e. a two-hour live learning seminar, at a location near you. In addition to the live learning events, we plan to hold a number of national webinars on www.ipuacademy.ie during the Spring Programme.

The five topics in the IPU Academy Spring Programme were selected based on your feedback and, as usual, will be delivered in venues countrywide. The topics are all of current relevance and designed to assist you in developing and delivering services to your patients in your pharmacy.

The format for the live learning remains unchanged; courses will start at 8pm sharp and will last two hours. Coffee and refreshments will be served. 

Please note: We decided to introduce an Express Topic Course into the IPU Academy Spring Programme 2017, which proved very popular. Management of Common Ear, Nose and Throat Conditions and Travel Health courses will start at the earlier time of 7.30pm and finish at 9pm. Coffee and refreshments will be available from 7pm, prior to the course starting at 7.30pm, instead of the usual coffee break midway through the course.

The new IIOP system for monitoring our engagement with Continuing Professional Development (CPD) has now come into effect. IPU Academy is here to support your engagement with the new CPD system. There are five stages to the CPD cycle. A copy of the CPD cycle is included in the CPD template which is provided for each topic. You can enter at any stage of the CPD cycle, e.g. by attending an IPU Academy course you will have completed an Action stage of the CPD cycle. You can then download your IPU Academy Attendance Certificate to assist in completing the Document stage of the CPD cycle.

Feedback and suggestions for future topics to be developed by IPU Academy are welcome at ipuacademy@ipu.ie.

 

Breastfeeding

The importance and benefits of breastfeeding for both mother and baby are well known. The Department of Health and Children and the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommend exclusive breastfeeding of infants for the first six months. After that, mothers are recommended to continue breastfeeding, in combination with suitably nutritious and safe complementary foods – semi-solid and solid foods – until their children are two years of age or older. Women will frequently need medical care during this time and may require drug therapy for the management of a range of conditions both chronic and acute. Pharmacists have an important role in promoting breastfeeding and in addressing a range of concerns that can occur during that period.

The aim of this course is to provide pharmacists with the information they require to enable them to support breastfeeding in their communities and answer a range of common questions. This course will focus in particular on the safe use of medicines by breastfeeding women.

Heart Failure

Heart failure is one of the major chronic diseases in Ireland today, it is more common than most cancers and represents a major public health burden. Current data suggest a 2% prevalence of symptomatic heart failure in the Irish population (rising to 10% in those >75 years). Heart failure is reported to account for 5% of all emergency medical admissions, of which 80% are patients >65 years of age.

The aim of this course to provide an update on the current management of heart failure.


Management of Common Ear, Nose and Throat Conditions (Express Topic)

The community pharmacist spends a large proportion of their working day responding to symptoms and counselling patients on potential treatment options. A significant portion of this time is spent addressing minor ailments involving the ear, nose and throat.

The aim of this course is to revise the assessment and management of common conditions affecting the ear, nose and throat.


Older Men’s Health

Men aged 50 years and older have a particular set of health issues. Developing communication and engagement strategies with this cohort of patients, as they may not be fully aware of common health issues, is as important as providing information on health issues relevant to them.

The aim of this course is to provide information on factors that may adversely influence the health of men aged 50 and older, and outline strategies that can optimise the health of this patient group.

Travel Health (Express Topic)

As travellers broaden their horizons, pharmacists can also improve their knowledge of the health needs of travellers and how to support their wellbeing. This includes exploring risks that travellers face, from common ailments, such as sunburn and travellers’ diarrhoea to malaria and dengue fever.

The aim of this course is to provide useful information, tools and appropriate resources to provide travel health counselling and advice to patients.