A comparison of medicines information contained in GP referral letters with that elicited from Home Medicines Reviews (HMRs) has found discrepancies for 90% of patients, some posing serious risks. In a small study led by Sue Carson MPS and published...

New guidelines on heart failure and atrial fibrillation have been released, including new pharmacological recommendations. Released by the National Heart Foundation of Australia (NHF) in collaboration with the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ), the guidelines were written...

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is characterised by repetitive, partial (hypopnoea) or complete (apnoea) occlusions of the upper airway during sleep, resulting in frequent arousals and sleep fragmentation. Learning objectives  After reading this article, pharmacists should be able to: Describe...

Pharmacists may recall news headlines earlier this year about people experiencing significant sunburn despite application of high sun protection factor sunscreens. Reports were accompanied by distressing images, including of children, with swollen faces, blisters and red raw skin. Some...

Scenario: You have decided to run a cardiovascular screening and risk assessment service in the pharmacy. The target screening group is ‘all willing patients over the age of 45 years without a known history of cardiovascular disease (CVD)’. What do...

Pharmacists already have the tools for prescribing and it’s time to unite to bring legislative change, says Professor Lisa Nissen. QUT’s Prof Nissen said there was a multitude of international data available to indicate how pharmacist and non-medical prescribing can...

Having a pharmacist in a general practice can be a powerful tool for changing other healthcare practitioners' attitudes towards pharmacy scope of care, a pilot study has shown. Presenting at PSA18, the University of Canberra’s Dr Mark Naunton discussed some...

New research from Chronic Pain Australia has found low awareness of the upcoming Pain MedsCheck trial among people living with chronic pain, as well as fears of facing judgment from pharmacists and other healthcare providers when managing their pain.¹ Chronic...

The shift from viewing pain as simply a symptom opens up opportunities to greatly improve the way it is treated, writes PainWISE MD Joyce McSwan MPS. How can pharmacists get behind it? Pain science has changed. For a very long time,...

US research has found pharmacist-led post-discharge care for high-risk patients resulted in fewer admissions and healthcare cost savings of more than $US500 per patient. In the study examining the cost-effectiveness of a pharmacist follow-up program, published in The American Journal...