Future prescriber

With many pharmacy hats, including budding prescriber, PSA MIMS 2024 Intern of the Year James Oh has also been a national-level power lifter.

While James Oh wasn’t entirely sure what career path he wanted, he always knew health care was on the cards.

‘I applied to basically every health degree, and got into a few,’ he recalls. ‘I thought pharmacy seemed like an interesting choice.’ But it wasn’t all smooth sailing, with Mr Oh considering moving on after first year.

‘It was only after the lecturers explained what pharmacists do and how important we are that it started to click,’ he says. ‘Learning what happens in real life when someone slips through the cracks and how we can help them got me really excited about pharmacy.’

Since then, Mr Oh has gone from strength to strength, including serving as the education chair for the National Australian Pharmacy Students’ Association. Completing his intern year at a pharmacy in Bowen, at the top of the Whitsundays, has given Mr Oh a firsthand view of what it takes to be a prescribing pharmacist. ‘All the pharmacists I work with are either completing the training for the Queensland Scope of Practice Pilot or offering the service,’ he says. ‘I helped the pharmacy get its consulting room set, sat in as a chaperone for a few consults, and I’m undergoing the training now myself.’

After seeing Bowen patients wait up to 6 weeks to see a GP, Mr Oh hopes to become a full-time pharmacist prescriber. ‘You can see the benefits the trial provides people, particularly in the rural communities where it’s difficult to access repeat scripts or advice for looking after themselves in the best way possible.’ And while tutoring pharmacy students, Mr Oh is also undergoing credentialing. ‘I’d like to do a bit of everything,’ he says.

Q&A

1. What is the one scope of practice change you would most like to see?

Legislative changes allowing pharmacists to prescribe within their capabilities and scope, determined by professional education and credentialed courses – expanding scope in areas most beneficial to a pharmacist’s community.

2. What advice would you give to your younger self?

Not to worry so much. You learn from everything you do – whether you made the right or wrong decision. Rather than getting distracted by the big picture, I’d also advise myself to focus on what’s going on at the time, and tackle the rest later on.

3. What pharmacist role do you see yourself performing in 2030?

I’d love to be head of clinical pharmacy services at a community pharmacy, and develop a profession-specific residency program. We support pharmacy students and interns, but it would be great to provide ongoing continuity of care for pharmacists, too.