Page 7 - Submission to the 2015-16 Federal Budget

Integrating pharmacists into General Practice
‘Pharmacists co-located in general practice clinics can deliver a range of interventions, with favourable results in chronic disease management and
quality use of medicines.’48
The integration of pharmacists within the general practice setting has been adopted by the NHS alliance in the UK.49
Many other countries, including New Zealand, Canada and USA, have pharmacists providing clinical services in general practice settings.50
In Australia, the concept has received endorsement from leading medical organisations, acknowledging the value pharmacists add to the primary healthcare team.51,52
Role
A practice pharmacist is best defined as one who delivers clinical pharmacy and education services from or within a general practice medical centre or other primary care practice (multidisciplinary clinic, Aboriginal Health Service) through a coordinated, collaborative and integrated approach with an overall goal to improve patient outcomes through QUM.53
The practice pharmacist role is diverse and should be adapted to the needs of the practice setting
and their patients.54 The core roles include patient consultations, medication information and education, and drug use evaluation (see Box 2).
Practice pharmacists assist with medication enquiries from patients and health professionals, conduct staff education, contribute to optimal prescribing, mentor new prescribers, participate
in case conferences, liaise across health sectors, undertake medication management reviews,
and evaluate drug utilisation to ensure optimal therapy.57 Other roles pharmacists could undertake included point‐of‐care testing (e.g. blood pressure, blood glucose, International Normalised Ratio [INR]) and monitoring, clinical audits, health assessments, immunisation, transitional care and facilitation of shared medical appointments.58,59
As part of their collaborative work, an important element of the practice pharmacist’s role is liaison with local community pharmacists, to ensure continuity of care.
‘THE SKILLS
OF HEALTH PROFESSIONALS ARE NOT BEING USED PROPERLY. USE OF ALL THE SKILLS OF OTHER PROFESSIONALS, SUCH AS NURSES AND PHARMACISTS, NEEDS TO BE ENCOURAGED.’40
Integratingpharmacistsintoprimarycareteams I©PharmaceuticalSocietyofAustraliaLtd. 7