Australia’s Next Top Model of Practice

An update on Project Pharmacist

John Jackson

Aligned with the introduction of the new combined Bachelor and Master of Pharmacy, there has been recognition within the faculty of the need for greater professional opportunities for pharmacists in primary care. This is being addressed by Project Pharmacist, established in 2014 to facilitate enhanced roles for pharmacists that create both rewarding careers and patient benefits.

The initial work of Project Pharmacist identified factors in the practice environment that affect pharmacists’ opportunities to pursue new roles. In addition to the recognised factors of legislation, policy, funding and the expectations of the public, focus groups of pharmacists determined the leadership of the profession and attitudes and beliefs of pharmacist themselves as major factors.

The major pharmacy associations were subsequently engaged by Project Pharmacist to seek consensus as to the workforce issues that affect pharmacists having sustainable and rewarding roles. A key message arising from this process was the need to address limitations that prevent pharmacists working to their full scope of practice and to improve career prospects and conditions in the workplace.

In 2017, Project Pharmacist completed the development of a Framework for Enhanced Roles for the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services. More than sixty roles performed by pharmacists in primary care were identified from the literature. Roles of a similar nature were grouped and the resultant functions categorised into three themes: medication management, primary care services and public health services. A conceptual model of practice has been created using these structures to provide a visual depiction of the range of roles pharmacists are capable of performing in primary care.

Through this work, it has been necessary to differentiate between enhanced roles which are those within the existing scope of practice of pharmacists but not currently widely adopted, advanced roles which are those performed at a level beyond common practice and new roles which are beyond the current scope and may lead pharmacists into ‘turf wars’ with other health professions. It has also been necessary to translate clinical activities pharmacists have been educated and trained to perform into sustainable, employable positions. Understanding these parameters is important to ensure we foster roles that are soundly based on pharmacists’ knowledge and skills and are able to be implemented within the workplace.

In developing the Framework, four new positions were identified as having the greatest potential benefit. They are pharmacists working in general medical practice, pharmacists embedded in residential aged-care facilities, pharmacists working as medicines consultants to home nursing services in support of patients on complex medication regimens and pharmacists providing enhanced adherence services in community pharmacies to patients on multiple chronic medications.