1. Pharmaceutical Care for Visually Impaired Patients Ala Osama; Hoda Mohamady; Yousra Adel Supervised By: Dr. Rana Ibrahim University of Sharjah; College of Pharmacy

2. Introduction  The agency for Health care research and quality defines pharmacy health literacy as "the degree to which individuals are able to obtain, process, and understand basic health and medication information and pharmacy services needed to make appropriate health decisions".  The definition of vision impairment by the center for disease control and prevention (CDC) states that a visually impaired person's eyesight can't be corrected to a normal level.  According to WHO, the percentage of visual impairment globally is approximately 4.13%.

3. Objective  To heighten the level of awareness among pharmacists with regards to the necessities and concerns of patients with visual impairment and to establish and evolve strategies that optimally accustom these needs.  Review strategies to enhance medication compliance for patients with visual impairment.

4. Methods  Study design: Cross sectional study – observational study  Limits: Visually impaired individuals – the survey was restricted solely to those who attain access to the internet in addition social networks such as twitter.  A survey was provided to pharmacists in UAE to apprehend their methods of dealing with a visually impaired patient. An online questionnaire was sent for some visually impaired individuals to detect their concerns and problems, and explore solutions they suggest.

5. Pharmacists’ data

6. Results: Pharmacists  Among the surveyed pharmacists, 40% had a previous encounter with a visually impaired patient, of which 35% handled the patients conventionally as with their respective peers while 65% gave a special consideration.  91% of the sample comprehend that visually impaired patients have the right to obtain the information they require in a suitable format.  Upon questioning about some special aids, 24.5% didn't have any knowledge or prior experience with them.

11. Visually impaired individuals’ data

12. Results: Visually impaired individuals:  39% go to the pharmacy with someone else, 35% ask someone to go instead of them and 26% go alone.  65% never receive information from the pharmacist in a suitable format, of which 43% never asked for it, 43% asked but the pharmacist didn't respond or couldn't provide it, and 14% had other reasons.  With regards to the special aids, 60.8% demonstrated prior knowledge about a multitude of them.  All individuals in the sample determined that this issue is paramount and requires advance attention from health authorities.

17. Braille Labeler Small device that allows easy typing of labels in Braille language to stick them on drug bottles Color Detector Device with speech output of the color detected upon touching any object ScripTalk Device that uses text-to- speech technology to read drug information Talking Rx Small recorder designed specially to record information about medications for visually impaired patients X-PIL Specialized website that provides information in an accessible format, in addition to free-toll service for drug information

18. Conclusion  There is a need to increase the awareness and concentration about this important issue among the pharmacists.  There are some solutions to be applied and integrated as a part of the strategy of pharmaceutical care for visually impaired patients.

19. Recommendation  Based on the patients’ as well as the pharmacists’ responses we highly recommend the integration of the Braille labeler into the pharmacies. It is the most renowned device among the two parties.  Raise the awareness among the pharmacists with regards to the rights of the visually impaired individuals in acquiring the optimal pharmaceutical care.  Training to handle this group of patients should be implemented within the counseling programs of pharmacist.

20. References  Orrico, K. (2013). Caring for visually impaired patients. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association: Japha, 53(3), e142-50. doi:10.1331/JAPhA.2013.13514  Osborne, H. (2000). In other words... When vision is an issue... communicating with patients who are visually impaired. On Call, 3(10), 38-39.  Dobbins, J. C. (2002). Counseling the blind and vision-impaired. Drug Topics, 146(21), 15.  Pascolini, D., & Mariotti, S. (2012). Global estimates of visual impairment: 2010. British Journal of Ophthalmology, 96(5), 614-618. doi:10.1136/bjophthalmol-2011-300539.