Page 13 - Federal Budget Submission 2016-17

Integrating pharmacists into Aboriginal Health Services
“ Australia’s mainstream medical model focuses on compliance with medical advice and often ignores the complex historical and sociocultural influences that shape patients’ responses to their health and health care.87
Poor adherence to prescribed medicines is well documented
and associated with adverse health outcomes in all population groups.88 Social circumstances, deficiencies in health services
and systems mean Aboriginal people often suffer even greater challenges in medicine management than non-Indigenous Australians. Social and emotional wellbeing issues may deeply pervade the lives of many Aboriginal people and may diminish the value that individuals place upon medicines and the potential of these medicines to improve their quality of life.89
Aboriginal Health Services (AHSs) play an important role in the primary health care of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.90 AHSs are comfortable, safe environments that
Role of pharmacists
A clinical pharmacist employed within an AHS would deliver medication advice and education to consumers and staff,
and work with both consumers and other health professionals to improve medication adherence and reduce medication misadventure through tailoring medication regimens and overseeing medication management processes.
Other activities that pharmacists are well-equipped to deliver within an AHS include health promotion, disease prevention initiatives, and assistance with consumer self- management and judicious use of medicines. A pharmacist in an Aboriginal Health Service could deliver the same services as outlined in the General Practice proposal above.
Improving medication adherence is often complex and multi-factorial and requires interventions at the system,
provider and consumer level. Pharmacists can make a significant contribution at each of these levels. They can empower individuals,
understand and address Aboriginal patients’ needs. AHSs are multidisciplinary services which address the need for more holistic, accessible primary healthcare services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Having pharmacists embedded within AHSs would facilitate the training of culturally responsive pharmacists and the building of relationship and trust between pharmacists and AHS Aboriginal patients and staff. Such relationships with patients together with closer collaboration with AHS GPs and other health professionals could assist continuity of care and empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in their medication choices
and management.
assess consumer needs and tailor solutions, and maximise the benefits arising from the health system by promoting timely and equitable access to medicines. Pharmacists can provide QUM education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and health professionals.91
Without improved medicine information and increased medicine adherence, it is likely that chronic disease for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will remain poorly controlled and morbidity and mortality rates will remain high. Pharmacists who can ensure safe and effective medicine use, increase patient medication knowledge and provide education to health service staff, are particularly needed in remote areas, where there is often a scarcity of medical practitioners and lack of continuity of health professional staff.
Federal Budget Submission 2016-17 I ©Pharmaceutical Society of Australia Ltd. 13
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