PSA Ignites pharmacy leaders' careers : 24/12/2012 :

The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia has launched a special program aimed at boosting the leadership skills and career opportunities of Australia’s early career pharmacists.

PSA’s ignite: Pharmacist Leadership Program has been especially structured to develop high-performing early career pharmacists into future leaders who will drive strategy, change and innovation.

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Pharmacy ethics push : 24/12/2012 :

At its December meeting the Australian Pharmacy Liaison Forum (APLF), which consists of representatives of all of the major Australian pharmacy organisations, agreed that 'a strong and united call' from the APLF would assist in bringing a 'much needed focus' to adherence to professional and ethical practice by pharmacists.

APLF says the move follows the raising of concerns within the profession during 2012 of instances where pharmacists are required, or are choosing, to work under conditions where the Code of Ethics relevant to their practice is challenged. The APLF did not detail these instances in its December meeting notes, released on Friday.

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Christmas party: boss pays : 21/12/2012 :

This week's poll result (n=217) tells us that, in the main, pharmacy owners cover the cost of the staff Christmas get together.

Further, these events tends to be 'nice' rather than extravagant.

Of possible interest - 10% of respondents to this week's poll ticked the 'Christmas party? Bah humbug' option compared to 2% in 2010, when we ran the identical poll.

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Pharma Code of Conduct issued for 2 years only : 21/12/2012 :

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has given pharmaceutical companies that are members of Medicines Australia two years to improve transparency of payments and sponsorship made by pharmaceutical companies to individual healthcare professionals.

In granting authorisation for edition 17 of Medicines Australia’s Code of Conduct for only two years ACCC Commissioner Sarah Court said “Improving transparency around payments to individual doctors will play an important role in promoting community confidence in the integrity of these payments to healthcare professionals.”

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MIMS launches Complementary v Mainstream drug interaction module : 21/12/2012 :

MIMS has partnered with IMgateway to bring an Australian evidence-based Complementary V Mainstream drug interaction module to market, via its eMIMS product.

Research has showen that, for healthcare professionals, the primary barrier to recommending complementary medicines (CMs) is safety concerns around patients on multiple prescription medications or with complex health issues. Also, a lack of knowledge of CMs and a perceived lack of evidence were identified as barriers. The provision of good quality educational materials was seen as important to allow pharmacists to assess levels of evidence for CMs and educate them on their safe and appropriate use.¹

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NZ pharmacists to get prescribing rights : 20/12/2012 :

In line with moves already successfully made in Britain, the United States and Canada, clinical pharmacists in New Zealand will soon be able to prescribe restricted medications.

To qualify, pharmacists will need to undergo special training and competency assessments. They will work in a collaborative healthcare environment and be able to prescribe medication to patients under the care of their team.

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Federal Court approves settlement of Sigma class action : 20/12/2012 :

The Federal Court yesterday approved the settlement of a $57.5 million class action brought by law firm Slater and Gordon against Sigma Pharmaceuticals in October 2010.

The class action alleged that Sigma had failed to fully appraise shareholders of relevant facts immediately prior to its 2009 fund raising venture.

The money is expected to be handed over the Slater and Gordon within 7 days. The settlement sees no admission of liability from Sigma.

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Poll: Christmas staff party : 19/12/2012 :

With only a few sleeps to go, Christmas celebrations are in full swing.

Staff Christmas parties range from a round of mince tarts with the morning tea, to the fully frocked-up slap-up night out, and given how busy pharmacies are at this time of year, the window for celebrating tends to be stretched fairly wide.

What style of Christmas party is your pharmacy having? Please let us know by voting in this week's AusPharm poll.

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Sansom sends dabigatran back to the PBAC : 19/12/2012 :

The Sansom review of anticoagulant therapiess has recommended that the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Comittee (PBAC) review its March 2011 decision to PBS list the new oral anticoagulant dabigatran.

The recommendation (see below) was one of 15 in the report of the review, chaired by Emeritus Professor Lloyd Sansom, and released by the government yesterday.

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Pharmacists welcome report into anticoagulant therapies : 19/12/2012 :

The report of an Australian Government review into anticoagulation therapies has been welcomed by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia which provided submissions to the review.

National President of the PSA, Grant Kardachi, particularly welcomed the report’s recommendations for shared care and collaboration between health professionals in the management of anticoagulation therapy in patients with atrial fibrillation which affects approximately 300,000 Australians.

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January 2013 PBS schedule : 18/12/2012 :

Download the Full PBS schedule

Download the PBS Summary of changes

Download the Efficient Funding of Chemotherapy – S100 Arrangements Supplement

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90% of pharmacists meet registration standards : 18/12/2012 :

More than 90% of pharmacists were found to be compliant with the Board’s registration standards, according to the report on this year's pharmacy audit pilot, published yesterday on the Pharmacy Board website. The pilot was designed to assess compliance with the Boards’ registration standards, in particular with regard to participation in Continuing Professional Development and, also, in verifying that pharmacists had met recency of practice requirements..

The pilot was conducted on pharmacists only on behalf of parent body AHPRA, this approach agreed to by all AHPRA Boards as it enabled a contained, implementable pilot that both trialled the draft audit framework and provided a reliable data baseline for the next phases of audit development.

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NPS Medicinewise: Stay safe with warfarin this Christmas : 17/12/2012 :

NPS MedicineWise is reminding people who take warfarin to take the medicine safely this Christmas season, and in particular, as 'listers will know, that changes in food and drink intake can affect how warfarin works - especially alcohol and vitamin K-rich foods like leafy green vegetables.

The organisation says it is preparing to launch an educational program on the optimal use of anticoagulants for health professionals and for consumers in February 2013.

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RGH E‑Bulletin: Medical expulsive therapy for urolithiasis : 17/12/2012 :

The topic of this week's RGH E‑Bulletin is Medical expulsive therapy for urolithiasis.

"Urolithiasis or urinary stone disease is one of the most common conditions encountered in daily urological practice. Patients may be asymptomatic or present to emergency departments or an outpatient setting with renal colic. The two factors most likely to predict successful stone passage are stone size - stones < 10mm are more likely to pass spontaneously, and secondly, stone location - distal stones are more likely to pass compared to proximal stones. There is a high rate of spontaneous passage (ranging from 71-98%) for small stones < 5mm in size, located in the distal ureter. Depending on the extent of renal compromise caused by the stone and pain experienced by the patient, a trial of non-surgical means to facilitate passage is a useful treatment option, given the high rate of spontaneous stone passage and the fact that surgery and anaesthesia are not without risks. " 

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

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International drug safety conference heading to Brisbane : 17/12/2012 :

Delegates from across the world will descend on Brisbane in October 2013 for the 4th International Global Drug Safety Conference and Exposition being hosted by the Queensland Branch of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia.

The conference, with the theme Revitalising Drug Safety – The Decade of the Patient, will be held at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre from 14-16 October 2013 with international and Australian speakers presenting on a range of topics focussing on the rapidly changing environment of drug safety.

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Pharmacists happy to upskill for downscheduled S4s : 14/12/2012 :

Following the recent downscheduling in New Zealand of trimethoprim for the treatment of uncomplicated UTIs, we asked 'listers whether they would be prepared to do additional training, as is the case in NZ, to 'qualify' for the right to prescribe downscheduled products.

93% of respondents (n=220 in total) told us they would be prepared to do the additional training although there were levels of preparedness evident in the responses. 

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AusPharm CE: Aspirin – who needs it? : 13/12/2012 :

The next AusPharm CE topic is  Aspirin – who needs it? - it's been put together for us by Debbie Rigby.

"The use of aspirin in medicine dates at least as far back as Hippocrates who found analgesic effects for the extract (salicin) of white willow bark. The first aspirin tablets were made by Bayer in 1915."

This activity has been accredited for 1 hour of Group One CPD (1 CPD Credit) that may be converted to 2 Group Two CPD Credits upon successful completion of the corresponding assessment for inclusion on an individual pharmacist's CPD Record. Accreditation number: A1212AP0.

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 the sponsors of our CE program, MIMS.

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Average age of mums still on the rise : 13/12/2012 :

The average age of first time mothers continues to rise, according to a report released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

The report, Australia's mothers and babies 2010, shows that in 2010, the average age of women having their first baby was 28 years, up slightly from 27.9 the previous year, and 27.5 in 2001.

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Warfarin vs Rivsroxaban - NPS Radar weighs up the evidence : 13/12/2012 :

The latest edition of NPS RADAR reviews the new oral anticoagulant rivaroxaban, and concludes that there is no evidence that people with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) who are well controlled on warfarin will benefit clinically from a switch to rivaroxaban.

Rivaroxaban is one of several new oral anticoagulants now available as an alternative to warfarin. Although approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration for use in stroke prevention in NVAF, it is not PBS listed for this indication and is currently only available on private prescription for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation (AF).

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Poll: additional accreditation for S3 supply? : 12/12/2012 :

'Listers will have seen the item we ran last week about trimethoprim coming off script in NZ.

It can now be supplied by pharmacists but only if they have completed a specific training course for prescribing trimethoprim.

What do you think of this model of S3 supply? A good idea or all a bit too hard?

Please let us know by voting in this week's AusPharm poll.

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