Stephen Duffull
The first qualification in Australia and New Zealand for
pharmacists who want to prescribe medicines will be offered
through both Otago and Auckland universities.
It will also be the first time the two universities' schools
of pharmacy have worked on a joint qualification.
Otago's school of pharmacy dean Stephen Duffull said the new
qualification would be available from the first semester next
year.
Prescribing pharmacists would be required to have the
prescribing certificate qualification jointly offered by the
universities.
The amendment to the Medicines Act, which would extend
prescribing to some pharmacists, has not yet gone through
Parliament, but is expected to this year.
Prof Duffull said, in email correspondence from Britain, the
schools thought it was logical to share the "enormous amount
of work required to get this up and running" so it could get
something which met the needs of the pharmacy workforce.
The course, which had yet to complete the Committee on
University Academic Programmes process, would involve two
papers, one involving the principles of prescribing and the
other a prescribing practicum, and was expected to cater for
up to 10 students a year.
There had already been many inquiries about the proposed
qualification, which would be identical, with papers
co-taught by both schools, he said.
The qualification would be limited initially to those
pharmacists who had completed a postgraduate qualification in
clinical pharmacy, with a minimum level of a postgraduate
diploma in clinical pharmacy.
Pharmacy Council chief executive Bronwyn Clark said it was
expected there would be some hospital pharmacists interested
in prescribing in several areas including oncology, where
pharmacists were already determining doses as part of a team.
There would also be pharmacists in the community who were
working within general practices.
It was proposed prescribing pharmacists would not work alone
but would have to be part of a "collaborative health team".
About 16% of the pharmacist workforce was considered to be in
such an environment.
Pharmacists would be unable to dispense their own
prescriptions, she said.
It was envisaged there would be few restrictions on what
pharmacists working within a team could prescribe, although
they would not be able to prescribe anaesthetic medicines.
Ms Clark said in the United KIngdom, where a variety of
professions was allowed to prescribe within teams, it had
been very successful where there were established
relationships "within set parameters".
It was expected Health Work Force New Zealand would set up
demonstration sites for pharmacist prescribers in the same
way it had for diabetes nurse prescribers.
Ms Clark said the aim of this would be to prove that the
proposed extension of the pharmacists' role would be safe and
effective.
Prof Duffull said many pharmacists, both in hospital and
primary care settings, had high level clinical roles and were
involved with advanced medicines management processes.
For these pharmacists, prescribing would be the next "natural
step in their provision of healthcare".
elspeth.mclean@odt.co.nz
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