Co-Designing Medication Safety Interventions for Community Pharmacy: Bringing Together People Living With Visual Impairments and Community Pharmacists Using a Modified Nominal Group Technique Approach.

INTRODUCTION

People living with visual impairment (VI), defined as a reduction in visual acuity or visual field that cannot be corrected by spectacles or contact lenses, experience health inequalities and are at increased risk of medication-related safety incidents. This study aimed to identify challenges contributing to medication errors and to co-design potential solutions with people living with VI and community pharmacy professionals.

METHODS

A modified Nominal Group Technique (mNGT) was conducted with seven adults living with VI and six community pharmacy professionals. The process comprised four stages: problem identification, solution generation, decision making and prioritisation, implementation and intervention development.

RESULTS

Participants identified twelve medication safety challenges and generated twenty-four potential solutions spanning pharmacist training, patient and pharmacist resources, pharmacy consultations, system changes and assistive technologies. Following discussion and prioritisation, three interventions were selected for further development: (1) an accessible Patient Safety Guide (PSG) to support communication between pharmacists, patients and carers regarding safe medication use; (2) a training video for pharmacists to improve awareness and understanding of the needs of people living with VI; and (3) pharmacy system changes, such as alerts or pop-up notifications, to improve identification of people living with VI and facilitate personalised support.

CONCLUSION

Co-design involving people living with VI and community pharmacy professionals successfully identified practical and acceptable interventions with potential to improve medication safety. The findings highlight the importance of communication, pharmacist awareness and system-level support in reducing medication-related risks for people living with VI.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: People living with visual impairment (PwVI) were involved throughout the design, conduct, and interpretation of this study. A stakeholder consultation group comprising PwVI and a carer informed the development of the study protocol, accessibility adaptations, workshop structure, and supporting materials. PwVI participated directly in the co-design workshops, identifying problems, generating solutions, and contributing to prioritisation of intervention ideas. Several PwVI also provided feedback on interpretation of findings and contributed to refining accessible outputs, including adaptations to the patient safety guide. Their involvement ensured that the research remained grounded in lived experience, and that the interventions developed reflected the priorities and practical realities of those directly affected.