A scoping review of the pharmaceutical care needs of people with sensory loss

Abstract

Objectives This scoping review collated evidence of the pharmaceutical care needs of people with sensory loss (SL). Methods Electronic databases were searched with no limit on year of publication: Medline (1946); Embase; Cinahl (1979); and Web of Science (1985). Search terms included the following: pharmacy; sight/hearing/dual impairment. Studies were included if they involved people with SL requiring pharmaceutical care and/or pharmacists/pharmacy support staff providing pharmaceutical care for people with SL. All study designs were eligible. This was a scoping review, and as such, the quality of studies was not formally evaluated. Key findings Eleven studies were included. People with SL had lower levels of medication knowledge than their peers without SL. People with SL were identified as being at higher risk of iatrogenic harm than people without SL. Communication was a barrier to the provision of pharmaceutical care for people with hearing loss, with pharmacists relying on the provision of written information. The prevalence of SL increases with age, yet only two studies included older people. No studies involved family or carers of people with SL, people with dual loss or people with SL receiving polypharmacy. Conclusions There is a paucity of data regarding the pharmaceutical care needs of people with SL. Unmet pharmaceutical care needs put people with SL at increased risk of harm from their medicines. A detailed understanding of the needs of people with SL is required which will inform future delivery of pharmaceutical care for this vulnerable population.

‘Has she seen me?’: a multiple methods study of the pharmaceutical care needs of older people with sensory impairment in Scotland

“…15 16 A recent scoping review (conducted by the authors of this study) identified 11 studies which demonstrated that people with sensory loss had lower levels of medication knowledge and were at higher risk of iatrogenic harm compared with people without sensory loss. 16 For example, one cross-sectional survey evaluating practising pharmacists’ attitudes towards and methods of interacting with deaf patients in the USA reported that two-thirds of community pharmacy personnel were not comfortable interacting with patients with hearing impairment because of communication difficulties. 17 Commonly used methods for communication with individuals with hearing or visual impairment included hearing loops and large print resources, respectively.…”

A systematic review of pharmacists’ interventions to support medicines optimisation in patients with visual impairment

“…There were no studies that met the inclusion criteria for this review, which was not unexpected. The review by Killick et al, that was published shortly after our search had been completed, highlighted the lack of intervention studies to enhance pharmaceutical care for people with sensory loss [9]. The systematic review by Beverly et al [31] on health information needs of visually impaired people identified only a few studies, most of which were of poor quality.…”

“…Beverley et al interviewed 31 visually impaired people and found that only a small proportion of health and social care needs were being met, and participants had many information needs including those related to techniques for administering medicines and reading medical information [8]. A recent scoping review of the pharmaceutical care needs of people with sensory loss (hearing and/or vision loss) highlighted the paucity of studies examining the pharmaceutical care needs of this population [9]. Challenges to medicines use experienced by those who are visually impaired include problems with distinguishing between medicines, doses and expiration dates as well as adherence issues [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16].…”

“…A recent scoping review of the pharmaceutical care needs of people with sensory loss (hearing and/or vision loss) highlighted the paucity of studies examining the pharmaceutical care needs of this population [9]. Challenges to medicines use experienced by those who are visually impaired include problems with distinguishing between medicines, doses and expiration dates as well as adherence issues [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Patients with visual impairment often need to rely on family members or carers to help with medicines [9].…”

MedGlasses: A Wearable Smart-Glasses-Based Drug Pill Recognition System Using Deep Learning for Visually Impaired Chronic Patients

“…Ling et al [5] noted the challenges of medication handling among the visually impaired population. Killick et al [6] reviewed the scope of the pharmaceutical care needs of sensory-impaired people. Alhusein et al [7] performed a multiple-method study on the medical care requirements of sensory-impaired elderly people in the polypharmacy context.…”