 The proposed pharmacy stream in the Remote Health Practice Program aims to develop the foundations of advanced and extended pharmacy practice in remote areas to promote the quality use of medicines in a primary health care framework. It will provide a framework to develop clinical reasoning skills in this context, using principles of evidence based medicine and identifying one’s own learning needs are with a focus on clinical pharmacy skills that are required for advanced practice in remote Aboriginal health organisations. Topics planned include the drug management of diseases and conditions that are common or uniquely found in the remote and indigenous health context. These cover both chronic disease management such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and renal disease as well as acute drug management of tropical infectious diseases, rheumatic heart disease and skin conditions. Some discussion of the application of mainstream pharmacy services to the remote context is included.
In common with other remote professions, a strong focus on Indigenous heath and history, primary health care, cultural safety and self care will make up the Graduate Certificate of Remote Health Practice: Pharmacy.
Pharmacists form a vital part of the health care team in urban Australia. The introduction of s100 funding for pharmacy services in 1999 was the first step towards allowing access to the services of pharmacists in the setting of rural and remote Aboriginal Health Services and this has been shown to improve both access to drugs and to quality services from pharmacists (Kelaher, 2004).
The pharmacists providing these services have essentially been developing their services in isolation with only informal networking between them and the occasional article in a pharmacy journal or presentation at conferences. Pharmacists working in this setting identified their practice as unique, whilst some elements of community pharmacy with respect to the common primary health problems are in common, difference lies in that remote pharmacists work as a part of the multidisciplinary team in professional and service support and may not normally be associated with the direct dispensing of medications and counselling of individual patients on using their medications safely and effectively. A depth of knowledge of emergency medications consistent with hospital pharmacy practice is also required.
Underpinning this melding of pharmacy roles, is a realisation that there are often demands placed on a remote pharmacist by community members that are not encountered in urban practice and which have more a primary health care focus. Issues of remote living and working common to other health practitioners, including an awareness of Indigenous culture and public health, are also experienced by pharmacists in this context.
The announcement in November 2007 of a tripling of s100 professional services funding has provided the opportunity for these services to be increased. A program for regional and urban Aboriginal health organisations to access the services of pharmacists on-site has been introduced in 2008.
Watch this site for the commencement of this stream.
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