Union goes on the attack over lunch breaks : 23/01/2013 :

The 2012 APESMA survey of community and hospital pharmacists has revealed that 62.3 per cent of community pharmacists work through their lunch breaks. By comparison, 37.9 per cent of hospital pharmacists work through lunch.

Commenting on the survey finding, which attracted 1300 responses, CEO of pharmacist union, APESMA, Chris Walton said forcing pharmacists to work through lunch without additional pay was an illegal practice and a further example of 'unscrupulous pharmacy owners exploiting pharmacy professionals'.

Responding to the union comments a Guild spokesperson pointed out that the Pharmacy Industry Award 2010 has a provision for an on-premise meal allowance.

"The Pharmacy Guild supports full compliance with the terms and conditions of the Award. As usual, APESMA has chosen to distort the facts."

You need to log in to read the rest of this article. Click here for details

2013 CPD by the SEA - NSW Convention well supported : 23/01/2013 :

2013 is off and running and within weeks the first ‘must attend’ CE event for the year, CPD by the SEA – NSW Convention, will take place at the Novotel Manly Pacific.

Get a head start on your 2013 CPD Credits with both Group 1 and Group 2 available over the 2 days of the Convention & Exhibition.

You need to log in to read the rest of this article. Click here for details

Australia’s medical workforce continues to grow : 23/01/2013 :

Australia'a medical workforce is continuing to grow, according to a report released today by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

The report, Medical workforce 2011, provides information on the demographic and employment characteristics of medical practitioners who were registered in Australia in 2011. In 2011, there were 87,790 medical practitioners registered in Australia, and about 85% of them responded to the workforce survey.

You need to log in to read the rest of this article. Click here for details

Labelling and packaging practices: A summary of some of the evidence : 23/01/2013 :

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is currently conducting a review of the requirements for the labelling and packaging of medicines supplied in Australia.

This review is primarily concerned with the presentation of the information on the medicine containers or on the boxes within which they are supplied. Of particular interest are the visual aspects that contribute to the usability of the information provided and facilitate the safe use of the medicine by health care professionals and consumers.

You need to log in to read the rest of this article. Click here for details

AusPharm CE: Discontinuation of medications - Deprescribing : 22/01/2013 :

As advised last week, as a special treat for our basic level members we'll be making selected AusPharm Continuing Education activities available to you through January.

We'll only make them available one at a time and only leave them open for a week.

This week's activity is Discontinuation of medications - Deprescribing. It was prepared for AusPharm by Debbie Rigby and first published in June 2012.

You need to log in to read the rest of this article. Click here for details

Fair work audit of community pharmacy to begin in April : 22/01/2013 :

The Fair Work Ombudsman has announced that, commencing in April 2013, it will begin an audit of community pharnmacy by selecting a sample number of community pharmacy employers from around Australia for a 'record and wage assessment'. The assessment will check whether the right records are being kept and whether employees are being paid correctly.

The national audit follows an earlier audit of Queensland pharmacies that found a high level of non-compliance. The Ombudsman also reported yesterday that almost 200 complaints has been lodged by pharmacists with the Ombudsman's office, in June 2010 and September 2013.

You need to log in to read the rest of this article. Click here for details

TGA releases 2011 ADR stats : 21/01/2013 :

The Therapeutic Good Administration (TGA) has released details of adverse drug reaction reports lodged with the agency in 2011.

During 2011 the TGA received approximately 14,400 ADR reports with 52% coming from pharmaceutical companies, 12% from hospitals, 7% from GPs, 18% from State and Territory Health Departments and 3% from consumers. The sources for other reports (8%) include community pharmacists and specialists. On average, in 2011, the TGA received 1,200 reports per month.

You need to log in to read the rest of this article. Click here for details

Centrum on top : 21/01/2013 :

Centrum multivitamins has topped a recent customer satisfaction poll which also found that a majority of consumers do not think multivitamins have the potential to interact with other medications.

A survey spokesperson said “More than half of the almost-1500 multivitamin consumers we surveyed did not know those multivitamins are considered medication. An even higher proportion – nearly two thirds, is not volunteering that information to their health practitioner.”

You need to log in to read the rest of this article. Click here for details

Guild to charge non members for access to STOP : 21/01/2013 :

Commencing 1 March 2013, the Pharmacy Guild, through its subsidiary company GuildLink, will commence charging non-Guild member pharmacies an annual fee of $300 to access the Project STOP platform.

The Guild hopes to defray some of the estimated $650,000 annual cost of maintaining the platform.

You need to log in to read the rest of this article. Click here for details

RGH E‑Bulletin: Metabolic risks and antipsychotic therapy : 21/01/2013 :

The topic of this week's RGH E‑Bulletin is Metabolic risks and antipsychotic therapy.

"Antipsychotic drugs are an effective treatment for schizophrenia. Atypical antipsychotics have a reduced risk of extrapyramidal side effects such as dystonias, akathisia, Parkinsonian symptoms and tardive dyskinesia but these drugs have been associated with weight gain, hyperlipidaemia, hyperglycaemia and hypertension. It is difficult to distinguish the extent to which these effects can be attributed to the antipsychotic drug, or if these observations relate to increased background risk in patients with psychosis (up to 2-5 times higher than the general population). A review of 81 studies looking at antipsychotic-induced weight gain reported the average weight gain after 10 weeks to be 4.45 kg with clozapine, 4.15 kg with olanzapine, and 2.10 kg with risperidone. It is thought that the weight gain may be due to mechanisms involving histamine receptors (for further information see previous E bulletin volume 46 (5)).”

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

You need to log in to read the rest of this article. Click here for details

February 2013 PBS schedule : 18/01/2013 :

Download the Full PBS schedule

Download the PBS Summary of changes

Download the Efficient Funding of Chemotherapy – S100 Arrangements Supplement

You need to log in to read the rest of this article. Click here for details

Pharmacy's Clinical Intervention rate growing but varies widely : 18/01/2013 :

This week's AusPharm poll asked 'listers to report their Clinical Intervention rate for the final quarter of 2012.

The results show a wide spectrum of intervention rates with the majority coming in at less than 1% (expressed as a percentage of Rx volume) however a significant number of pharmacies are achieving much higher rates. For example, 9% of respondents report a CI rate of greater than 10%.

You need to log in to read the rest of this article. Click here for details

Guild opposes S8 benzodiazepines : 17/01/2013 :

As AusPharm reported in November 2012, there is a proposal due to go before the Advisory Committee on Medicines Scheduling at its March 2013 meeting to reschedule benzodiazepines from Schedule 4 to Schedule 8.

In its weekly Forefront newsletter, the Pharmacy Guild reports that it will be opposing the proposal. The Guild says it doubts placing these drugs in Schedule 8  "will solve the issues around misuse and abuse of benzodiazepines".

You need to log in to read the rest of this article. Click here for details

Pharmacy Cricket student scholarships awarded : 17/01/2013 :

The recipients of the 2013 Pharmacy Cricket student scholarship are Phoebe Court and Polly Witts.

Both received $2500 to help defray costs associated with their pharmacy studies.

You need to log in to read the rest of this article. Click here for details

Health benefits of quitting smoking may outweigh small CVD risks of varenicline : 17/01/2013 :

NPS MedicineWise has moved to reiterate advice to health professionals that they should weigh the potential small cardiovascular risks associated with the quit-smoking medicine varenicline (Champix) against the immediate and substantial benefits of quitting smoking.

Following the release of a new meta-analysis from varenicline’s manufacturer, which indicates a small, statistically non-significant increase in cardiovascular events in people taking varenicline, NPS MedicineWise clinical adviser Dr Philippa Binns says the medicine’s risks should be considered in balance with the patient’s long-term health objectives.

You need to log in to read the rest of this article. Click here for details

Generic brand 'explainer' resources : 17/01/2013 :

In response to recent research published in the Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research (JPPR) which highlights consumer concerns about generic medicines, NPS MedicineWise has issued a reminder to pharmacists that resources are available to help people make brand choices.

A range of Brand Choices resources are available from the NPS MedicineWise website (here) to assist pharmacists engage people in conversations about their medicines options and help improve their understanding of generic medicines.

You need to log in to read the rest of this article. Click here for details

Medicines in the bush workshop breaks new ground : 16/01/2013 :

The importance of the work undertaken by pharmacists and other health professionals in rural and regional areas across Australia will be highlighted in the first Medicines in the Bush workshop, to be held on Sunday April 7th immediately prior to the opening of the 12th National Rural Health Conference in Adelaide.

Convened by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, Medicines in the Bush will not only showcase the important work of rural and remote pharmacists to other rural health practitioners, but also highlight the collaboration between health professionals working in these areas and the benefits to patients from such collaboration. It will also explore such issues as prescribing rights and extended practice for rural pharmacists.

You need to log in to read the rest of this article. Click here for details

Poll: clinical intervention rate : 16/01/2013 :

A couple of recent posts to AusPharmList have revealed particular pharmacy's Clinical Intervention rates to be around 1.6%.

Greg Stark suggested we run a poll to see what rate other pharmacies are achieving. Sounds good to us.

Please let us know, in today's AusPharm poll, what Clinical Intervention rate was achieved in your pharmacy for the last claim period - 1 October to 31 December 2012.

You need to log in to read the rest of this article. Click here for details

Pharmacist appointed to research ethics committee : 16/01/2013 :

ACT pharmacist Lyn Todd has been appointed to the ACT Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC).

Ms Todd joins a group of other professionals on the committee which aims to protect the welfare and rights of participants involved in research.

You need to log in to read the rest of this article. Click here for details

AusPharm CE: Persistent pain management in older people : 15/01/2013 :

As advised last week, as a special treat for our basic level members we'll be making selected AusPharm Continuing Education activities available to you through January.

We'll only make them available one at a time and only leave them open for a week.

This week's activity is Persistent pain management in older people. It was prepared for AusPharm by Jenny Gowan and first published in February 2012.

You need to log in to read the rest of this article. Click here for details

Click here to go to the old "Industry News" page (pre 01/09/2006).