Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Pharmacy Practice
Runs for all 6 trimesters
Covers broad practice proficiencies
Dispensing and compounding
Law and Ethics and professionalism
Communication
Drug information
Minor illness diagnosis and treatment
Professional roles
Healthcare system
30 January 2008 Discipline of Pharmacy and Experimental Pharmacology
School of Biomedical Sciences
3
Pharmacy Practice 1
5 hours per week
Lectures
Tutorials
Placements
Extemporaneous Dispensing Pracs
Course objectives
Understand and explain the role of pharmacy practice in health care
delivery;
Perform pharmaceutical calculations correctly;
Describe the concepts of dosage form design and their preparation;
Develop competency in the extemporaneous pharmaceutical products and
dispensing;
Describe the role of the pharmacists in rural and remote health care within
the Australian context; and
Understand and describe the principles of the National Medicines Policy.
Describe the distribution of pharmaceuticals within Australia
Required texts
Australian Pharmaceutical Formulary and Handbook,
20th Ed. Sansom L (ed). Canberra, Pharmaceutical
Society of Australia 2006.
Pharmaceutical Calculations Ansel, HC, Stoklosa,
MJ, Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins 2006
Ansel's Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms and Drug
Delivery Systems Loyd VA, Popovich NG, Ansel HC
Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins 2006
Australian Medicines Handbook
Pharmacy Practice 1
Dispensing practicals
LS2-25/29
Introduction to basic techniques
Assessment
End of trimester exam (30%)
Dispensing practicals (30%)
See course outline
Assignment (10%)
500 word written assignment (10%)
Calculation tests (30%)
3 tests
Must achieve at least 80%
Must pass all components
Learning goals
Understand the responsibilities of
pharmacists
Gain insight into the different practice
environments that pharmacists may
work in
Understand some of challenges
Understand the role of different
organisations that represent the
profession
30 January 2008 Discipline of Pharmacy and Experimental Pharmacology
School of Biomedical Sciences
Drug discovery Drug use
Health outcome
Self-medication
11
Exercise
Write down everything you know/think a
pharmacist does/is
Where do they practice?
What do they do?
Try and be specific (i.e. not just “dispenses
drugs”), breakdown the activities if you can
What is pharmacy?
“the art, practice, or profession of
preparing, preserving, compounding,
and dispensing medical drugs”1
pharmacists1
Endorsed by all professional bodies
Skill-based
Eight functional areas:
Practise pharmacy in a professional and ethical manner
Manage work issues and interpersonal relationships
Promote and contribute to optimal use of medicines
Dispense medicines
Prepare pharmaceutical products
Provide primary health care
Provide medicines and health information and education
Apply organisational skills in the practise of pharmacy
A Pharmacist
The pharmacist provides caring services.
Dispensing
Compounding
Drug information
Primary healthcare
Pharmacotherapeutics
Ethics and law
Communication
A Pharmacist
the appropriate, efficacious and cost
effective use of resources.
Pharmaceutics
Critical appraisal skills
Pharmacotherapeutics
Pharmacoeconomics
A Pharmacist
the pharmacist is in an ideal position
between physician and patient.
A Pharmacist
the pharmacist must effectively manage
resources (human, physical and fiscal)
and information.
Pharmacy management
Drug information skills
A Pharmacist
Life-long learning
Pharmacists should learn how to learn
Pharmacy in Australia
AIHW Workforce survey (1999)1
14,747 pharmacists
46.9% Female
29.4% Medicine
>90% Nursing
Average age 46.1
45.1 in 1994
Average 37.8 hours/week
Medicine 46.9 hrs/week
Nursing 30 hrs/week
1. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Pharmacy Labour Force to 2001.
30 January 2008 Discipline of Pharmacy and Experimental Pharmacology
School of Biomedical Sciences
21
1%
%
tor
4%
r 1
uca
2%
ic 1
ato
r/ed
istr
clin
2%
rial
che
min
tal/
ust
er
Tea
spi
Ad
Ind
Oth
Ho
Community 80%
Community Pharmacy
11,829 community pharmacists
42% Female
4,926 approved pharmacies
Constant for nearly 10 years
Control by the Government
69% in small, non-mall shopping
centres
Work longer hours than hospital (38.2
hpw c.f. 36.0 hpw)
30 January 2008 Discipline of Pharmacy and Experimental Pharmacology
School of Biomedical Sciences
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71 68
70
60
population
52.6
50
40 38.4
30.6
30
20
10
0 Capital Other MA Large Rural Small Rural Other Rural Remote Other Remote
Remote
Distribution
Pharmacists are more evenly distributed than
doctors, but less evenly distributed than
nurses
Community pharmacists tended to be
concentrated in large rural centres and capital
centres
Remote centres had a higher rate of hospital
pharmacists (6.9) c.f. other remote (4.2) and
other rural (2.9)
Average age
50 49.6
49
48 47.9 47.8
47.3
Age (years)
46
45
44
42.8
42
40
38 Capital Other MA Large Rural Small Rural Other Rural Remote Other Remote
Remote
Age
Higher proportion of pharmacists aged under
30 in capital cities and remote centres (15%
and 20% respectively)
Higher proportion of pharmacists aged 65 or
over in OMA and other rural areas (11.3%
and 11.4%)
Other remote areas – very small proportion of
pharmacists aged under 30 years (4.2%)
compared to national (13.5%)
Ownership
Community pharmacists in remote areas are
far more likely to own a pharmacy in remote
areas c.f. metropolitan areas
Sole proprietors – 54.4% in other remote areas,
43.4% in remote areas c.f. 20.9% in large rural
centres and 25.6% nationally
13.4% work as permanent assistants or as
relievers in other remote areas c.f. 32.3% in
capital cities (Pharmacist-in-Charge)
Community Pharmacy
Prepare and dispense medicines
Provide counselling and advice about the use
of medicines
Undertake minor diagnoses and referral if
appropriate
Offer advice on self-treatment choices
Medication provision to long-term care
facilities - medication management
Home medication reviews
Medication Assistance Service – PSA
Disease state management
30 January 2008 Discipline of Pharmacy and Experimental Pharmacology
School of Biomedical Sciences
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Hospital Pharmacy
2,093 hospital pharmacists
70% Female
279 Hospitals with pharmacy services1
Hierarchical structure
Chief/Director
Deputy Chief/Directors
Senior Pharmacist
Specialist Pharmacists
Pharmacists
1. Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia. Final Report: A Demand Model
for Hospital Pharmacists. December 2001.
30 January 2008 Discipline of Pharmacy and Experimental Pharmacology
School of Biomedical Sciences
Hospital Pharmacist 30
Other roles
Pharmaceutical Industry
Government
State Department of Health
Federal : PBS
Non-Government
National Prescribing Service
Facilitators
Organisation
Academia
30 January 2008 Discipline of Pharmacy and Experimental Pharmacology
School of Biomedical Sciences
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Challenges
Blurring of professional boundaries
Nurse prescribing
Doctor dispensing
Balancing activities
Dispensing vs cognitive services
Remuneration for other services
Challenges
Deregulation
Woolworths et al.
Protection from competition
Demonstrate we are worthy
Continuing to act professionally
Providing the highest standard of practice
Key points
Complex range of roles and responsibilities in
different practice settings
Shift from product- to patient-focussed
Activities related to identifying, resolving, and
preventing medication problems
Continue to improve and expand these roles
in a professional manner
Readings
Currie JD. The case for pharmaceutical care. In: Rovers JP,
Currie JD, Hagel HP, et al. Eds. A Practical Guide to
Pharmaceutical Care, 2nd Ed. Washington: American
Pharmaceutical Association;2003.
Reference:
Pharmaceutical Society of Australia. Competency Standards for
Pharmacists in Australia 2003. Available at:
http://www.psa.org.au/media/CompStds2003final.pdf