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Training your team and ensuring everyone's knowledge is up-to-date are important CPD triggers. We suggest that you get the team together for a training session based on the activities below and discuss the various ways in which you can offer customers and patients added care in this category.

Subject: insomnia and sleep problems

This Train Your Team checklist provides support and information to run a team training session on insomnia and sleep problems. This content can also be used for your own CPD.

Reflection

• How frequently do I, or my staff, intervene when customers request OTC products for insomnia or temporary sleeplessness?
• Do we have the confidence and knowledge to give information on sleep hygiene?
• Do my staff know when to refer customers with sleep problems to the pharmacist?

Do I know:

• The licensed indications, maximum recommended duration of treatment, doses and age limitations for OTC products used for insomnia?
• Which herbal ingredients and products are suitable for insomnia? What is the evidence base?
• The medicines that can cause insomnia?
• The difference between short-term insomnia and chronic insomnia?

Training Checklist

Ensure support staff understand the following key points:

• The function and importance of sleep
• The health effects of lack of sleep
• How much sleep is enough for different groups of people
• The types of sleep disorders and their possible causes
• Common causes of insomnia
• How OTC treatments, including herbal remedies, differ
• The importance of good sleep practices.

I will:

• Ensure that I am alert for the presence of serious disorders that can cause sleep disorders
• Get one or more of my pharmacy team to research patient self-help resources that we can recommend in the pharmacy
• Ensure that our customers are not buying sleep products inappropriately
• Train my pharmacy assistants to ensure they can meet the points in this training checklist.