APLF gets two new members, new chair : 07/02/2011 :

At a recent meeting of the Australian Pharmacy Liaison Forum (APLF), Professor Nick Shaw, Chair of the Council of Pharmacy Schools: Australia and New Zealand, was appointed as the Chair of the APLF for 2011.

Also at the meeting, the APLF announced that two new members have joined the group; these are the National Australian Pharmacy Students’ Association and the Pharmacist Division of APESMA.

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Pharmacists feature in tonight's RHEF broadcast : 07/02/2011 :

A new Rural Health Education Foundation television program that covers new vaccines, vaccine safety and best practice, and the updates to the National Immunisation Program Schedule, will air on Tuesday February 8th.

Immunisation: Getting to the Point discusses recent outbreaks and pandemics as well as the benefits and impacts of immunisation across age groups. The hour-long broadcast – the Foundation’s first for 2011 – also covers risk factors, common misconceptions, ensuring informed consent, and awareness and protocols for assisting Indigenous and culturally and linguistically diverse communities (CALD).

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RGH E-Bulletin 41-1: Use of beta blockers for COPD patients with heart failure : 07/02/2011 :

The topic of this week's RGH E‑Bulletin is Use of beta blockers for COPD patients with heart failure.

"β-blockers have been shown to have several beneficial effects in cardiovascular disease and therefore are used for avariety of indications such as post-myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, hypertension, angina and arrhythmias.
Despite these benefits, β-blockers are often under-prescribed in COPD patients due to belief that they can precipitate respiratory deterioration or cause bronchospasm. This E-bulletin aims to summarise some of the existing evidence on
using β-blockers in COPD patients."

Click here to read the bulletin in full. The E‑Bulletins are archived on the AusPharmList website here.

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Pharmacists follow EHC guidelines : 04/02/2011 :

This week's AusPharm poll found that, in the main, pharmacists do follow the PSA guidelines when supplying emergency hormonal contraception.

Only 8% of respondents said 'they just supply it as it's virtually harmless'.

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Guild Members' Disaster Appeal : 04/02/2011 :

The Pharmacy Guild has moved to establish its own Members’ Disaster Appeal to help Guild members who have suffered damage and heavy losses because of flooding in Queensland and Victoria (and, potentially, by pharmacies in the path of Cyclone Yasi). According to the Guild, in some cases, these losses have been so significant, above and beyond any insurance cover, that the future of these businesses is under real threat.

While the community-wide flood relief funds have received overwhelming responses there is no dedicated fund that can offer assistance to community pharmacists facing catastrophic business losses.

The Guild will be kicking off the appeal with the financial support of Guild Companies.

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One-in-three forget to take their medicine: NPS survey : 04/02/2011 :

New findings from a survey conducted by NPS have shed some light on exactly how Australians are using - and misusing - medicines.

Of 1500 Aussies surveyed 29% said they sometimes forget to take their medicine and while most never intentionally miss a dose (67%), take less than instructed (71%) or more than instructed (87%).

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AusPharm CE: RGH E-Bulletin Digest No. 32 : 03/02/2011 :

The first in our 2011 series of continuing education activities is the RGH E-Bulletin Digest No. 32.

This CE activity assesses your understanding of four recent RGH Pharmacy E-Bulletins (Volumes 40-7 - 40-10  -->  December 2010 - January 2011).

After completing this activity, pharmacists should be able to:

• Understand the clinical pharmacology of the combination oxycodone/naloxone product
• Describe factors contributing to the development opioid induced hyepralgesia
• Discuss pronicples of combined antihypertensive treatment
• Understand potential drug-related problems with combined smoking cessation drugs and antidepressants

Click here to do this Continuing Education activity. Or, if you prefer, you might like to take a look at our other CE activities here .

AusPharm gratefully acknowledges the financial support provided by MIMs.

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TGA transparency review sets public meeting dates : 03/02/2011 :

The Panel undertaking the Review to Improve Transparency of the TGA has now set dates for public meetings.

At these meetings, the Panel says it will be particularly interested in the types of information participants think the TGA should make available, and the ways they would like to receive that information.

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9 NAPSA Presidents, hanging on a wall.... : 03/02/2011 :

The recent NAPSA Congress in Adelaide served as the venue for a reunion of all nine of NAPSA’s Past Presidents.

The 9 past Presidents, Honorary Life Members and NAPSA alumni met with current National Councilors to engage in a day of planning and reflection.

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First NPS RADAR for 2011 published : 03/02/2011 :

The first NPS RADAR for 2011 has been published on the NPS website. It contains reviews of:

• Nicotine patches (Nicabate P, Nicorette, Nicotinell Step 1) for smoking cessation
• Denosumab (Prolia) for postmenopausal osteoporosis
• Exenatide (Byetta) for type 2 diabetes mellitus

NPS RADAR provides independent, evidence-based assessment of new drugs, new PBS listings and the latest research for doctors, pharmacists and other health professionals.

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Pharmacists’ Support Service available to NSW pharmacists affected by flooding : 03/02/2011 :

Phone for the cost of a local call: 1300 244 910 between 8am and 11pm.

The Pharmacists’ Support Service (PSS) is temporarily extending its Victorian based service to assist pharmacists affected by the floods in NSW as well as those in Queensland. 

PSS, a free telephone support service provided by pharmacists for pharmacists, offers a listening ear, information and referral to pharmacists who are experiencing stress and trauma.  The service is also discreet and anonymous so callers are free to discuss their situation openly.  The volunteer pharmacists who take the calls have all undertaken specialised training in telephone counselling.  PSS offers the benefit of peer support as callers know they are on common ground when talking to another pharmacist.

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PSA offers pharmacists for mental health : 02/02/2011 :

The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia has put forward a proposal to the Federal Government for a Liaison Pharmacist Program to improve the health outcomes of consumers with mental illness.

The proposal, contained in the PSA 2011-12 Budget submission, is for a federally-funded network of liaison pharmacists which would see one salaried pharmacist for every Medicare Local to improve cost-effective health services for consumers with mental illness.

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Latest edition of Australian Prescriber out now : 02/02/2011 :

The January  2011 issue of Australian Prescriber is now available online. Topics featured in this issue include:

• Editorial – standards for electronic prescribing systems
• Non-surgical treatments for skin cancer
• Pain relief in pregnancy and breast-feeding
• Medicines Safety Update

It also contains the most rtecent Medicines Safety Update.

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Poll: EHC guidelines due for a workover? : 02/02/2011 :

Recently, there has been criticism of 'intrusive' questioning by pharmacists of purchasers of Emergency Hormonal Contraception. As part of this, the EHC supply guidelines (PSA membership required) been criticised.

How does your pharmacy handle requests for EHC? Please let us know by voting in this week's AusPharm poll.

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MoU price drops come into effect today : 01/02/2011 :

The latest round of PBS Reform price drops come into effect today. These price reductions come as a result of the MoU struck between the federal government and Medicines Australian in 2010.

A mandatory price reduction of 5% will apply to all drugs in the F2T formulary (generics) and a mandatory 2% price reduction will apply to all drugs in the F2A formulary [(medicines that did not attract significant trading terms to pharmacy at 1 October 2006 (i.e. less than 25%)].

Guild members can access a detailed list of before and after prices of all drugs affected on the Guild website.

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MIMS providing free eMIMS to interns : 01/02/2011 :

MIMS Australia announced yesterday that it will be providing all pharmacy interns taking part in the new Guild Clinical Intern Training Program with free access to eMIMS during their training.

eMIMS is officially recommended by the Pharmacy Board of Australia as a reference source as well as a drug interactions reference and an evidence-based reference work on complementary and alternate medicines.

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Chlamydia screening underway in 6 ACT pharmacies : 01/02/2011 :

Researchers from the Australian National University, the University of Canberra and ACT Health yesterday launched the Chlamydia Screening in Pharmacies study.

The study aims to increase testing for chlamydia among the young population by providing the opportunity to be tested, by a health professional without an appointment, at a community pharmacy. Young people will be paid $10 to be tested.

“One in 14 young people in Canberra has chlamydia,” health researcher Louise Deeks said.  “But since there are no symptoms, they usually go untreated; therefore the importance of getting tested.”

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Be Medicinewise and clean out your cabinet : 01/02/2011 :

NPS is encouraging all Australians to spend a few minutes cleaning out their medicine cabinets today, as part of national Be Medicinewise Week.
 
NPS clinical adviser, Dr Danielle Stowasser, says we should be giving as much consideration to our medicines as we do our food.

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Opportunities for Pharmacists to increase consumer's medicine knowledge : 01/02/2011 :

The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia is urging pharmacists to engage more with consumers in imparting medication knowledge.

The call follows the release of a survey by the National Prescribing Service which showed that 60 per cent of consumers said they had not asked questions of their doctor or pharmacist the last time they received or purchased a medicine and 48 per cent said they did not tell their doctor or pharmacist about other medicines they were taking.

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How low can you go? : 31/01/2011 :

Panamax 100s - 39c, limit two per customer.

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