Embedded pharmacy in residential aged care has been successful in South Australia at the Tanunda Lutheran Home in the Barossa Valley. Julian Soriano talks about his pharmacy role in medication management and medication safety to deliver the best clinical care for residents.
After nearly 18 months, the role under Country SA Public Health Network run as a joint project embedding pharmacy into residential aged care with PSA, recently turned into a full time role for Julian at Tanunda Lutheran Home.
In this segment, Julian talks about the traditional pharmacy model serving residential aged care and the limitations of the imprest process for dispensing medication. Soon into the project he saw the collaboration required with GPs and onsite nurses in dispensing medication for residents in end-of-life or palliative care. Julian sees the imprest process unable to support end-of-life residents, even being able to check the availability of medication.
He sees the traditional model with pharmacy outside the aged care setting as quite rigid and pharmacists skills not fully utilised. The embedded model is able to deliver improved quality use of medicine for the nursing home and residents. This includes also education and building rapport with other health staff, residents and their families. Julian talks about a number of other key benefits such as improvement in the Residual Medication Management Review (RMMR) when a resident is in palliative care. This especially helpful for families, when the pharmacist, GP and nursing staff are able to talk with a resident’s family collectively.
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Bridging the orthodontic knowledge gap
In recent years, the orthodontic sector has been growing rapidly due to success in B2C marketing and companies like Invisalign reaching the consumer, but there has also been a lack of knowledge sharing among general dental practitioners and specialists.
General dentists require mentorship and guidance from orthodontists to feel confident in providing orthodontic treatment to their patients, ultimately improving the quality of care in the community.
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AHHA Sidney Sax Medal 2019 Awarded to Vicki Wade
AHHA Sidney Sax Medal 2019 awarded to Vicki Wade
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Misinformation impacts routine vaccines
More significant changes in recent years have been health-related misinformation eroding trust in healthcare professionals, leading to people seeking alternative treatments or avoiding medical advice altogether. This can make it more difficult for healthcare professionals to provide effective treatment and care.
Recent vaccines delivered as part of the COVID-19 response, are having a consequential impact on the uptake of routine vaccines.
Australian Health Journal spoke with Dr Paul Griffin, an Infectious Diseases Physician and Microbiologist at Mater Health, and who has been involved in over 150 clinical trials in the field of infectious disease.
Paul talks about the importance of having reputable sources of information that can used to encourage people to understand what is involved in clinical trials and the roles of vaccines.
