KEY attributes pharmacists need
to work on-site embedded in aged
care include resident-level clinical
skills, effective interdisciplinary
communication, and systemlevel quality use of medication
skills, found a new study led by
Dr Amanda Cross from Monash’s
Centre for Medicine Use and Safety.
The Government has committed
$345.7m to embed an onsite
pharmacist into every Governmentfunded residential aged care home
within the next four years.
Dr Amanda Cross, and the
national team of consultant
pharmacist researchers known as
COHERENT, qualitatively analysed
free-text responses to questions
from a national survey of over 500
Australian pharmacists.
This study represents the most
comprehensive consultation
regarding the on-site aged care
pharmacist role with the general
pharmacist workforce to date.
“Pharmacists are interested in
the new role and excited for the
opportunity to be more engaged
and work with the multidisciplinary
aged care team to improve quality
use of medicines and improve
resident outcomes,” Cross said.
The study highlights four key
factors influencing preparedness
including familiarity with the aged
care setting, resident-level clinical
skills, ability to communicate and
work with a multidisciplinary team,
and experience with system-level
quality use of medicines activities.
“The four factors represent key
areas that education providers
can target to better prepare our
workforce to practice as on-site
aged care pharmacists,” said Cross.
In addition to interest and
preparedness, the study highlights
the importance of pharmacist
workforce planning; education and
training materials, guidelines, and
mentor support for pharmacists
moving into on-site pharmacist
roles; and aged care stakeholder
engagement.