We caught up with Dr Simone Taylor from Austin Health and Amy McRae from Alfred Health about their work. Both Simone and Amy had projects featured in the “Time To Shine” session at last year’s SHPA Medicines Management Conference. Amy’s paper is titled “Collaboration Between Healthcare and Industry to Improve the Safety of Neuromuscular Blocking Agents in Australia”. It describes an initiative to improve the packaging and labelling of these high-risk medicines. Simone’s paper is titled “Emergency Department Screening Tools to Assist Pharmacists Targeting Patients at Risk For Medication Related Problems”. It describes the development of a tool to help pharmacists to identify patients who are at highest risk and would benefit most from pharmacist intervention.

Recorded live at MM2018 in Brisbane, Dan and Kristin sat down with Erica Tong, Deputy Director of Pharmacy and Chief Pharmacy Information Officer for Alfred Health about partnered pharmacist medication charting. We spoke to Erica about her team’s work developing a model for partnered pharmacist medication charting on admission to hospital and the safety outcomes that have been achieved.

Happy holidays! The team is taking an episode off over Christmas, and in honour of Rohan’s Clinical Pharmacy award at 2018, we are re-broadcasting this “classic hit”. We will see you all in the new year with some great new episodes Jane and Dan spoke to Dr Rohan Elliott, senior pharmacist in aged care at Austin Health, adjunct senior lecturer at Monash University, and a research consultant with the Royal District Nursing Service Institute.  We talk to Rohan about: ·      The definition of geriatric medicine, and what it means to be frail ·      How the geriatric medicine approach differs from other specialties ·      Decision making in geriatric medicine

In this very special holiday episode, Dan and Kristin are joined by Dr Lindsey Fitzharris. Lindsey has a PhD in History from Oxford University and authored the wonderful book “The Butchering Art” which details the efforts of Joseph Lister to make surgery safer. We discuss: What surgery was like before anaesthetics and antiseptics How these agents were introduced to Britain Why you didn’t want surgery in a hospital in the 1800s Two key surgeons in Victorian Britain: Liston and Lister Joseph Lister’s relentless drive to introduce antiseptics to surgical practice Lots of gory details about surgery 150 years ago!

Recorded live at MM2018, the 44th SHPA National Conference, Jane, Dan and Kristin caught up with keynote speaker Prof Brian Dolan. Brian is Director of Health Service 360 (UK) and Director of Service Improvement, Canterbury District Health Board, NZ where his role includes whole system culture engagement and change. why boredom could be worse than smoking for our patients the language that we use in healthcare that can be problematic for our patients what is meant by the term “PJ Paralysis” and how this became a movement

This is Part 2 of our episode recorded live at the Antibiotic Allergy in Practice Workshop at Austin Health. We spoke to Prof Elizabeth Phillips, Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University (USA); Prof Connie Katelaris, Allergist and Immunologist at the University of Western Sydney and Campbelltown Hospital; and Dr James Yun, Allergist and Immunologist and the University of Sydney. We were really lucky to get to speak to this panel of experts. We asked them about: practical aspects of delabelling antibiotic allergies the emerging role of genetic testing why not all SCARs are created equal emerging treatment options for severe cutaneous adverse reactions (SCARs) the long-term sequelae of a severe adverse reaction

Jane and Dan attended the Antibiotic Allergy in Practice Workshop, held at Austin Health. In this bumper episode we speak with a number of distinguished guests around the management of antibiotic allergy: Dr Ar Kar Aung, ID Physician from The Alfred discusses the classification and detection of antibiotic adverse reactions Dr MIchelle Goh, Dermatologist at Alfred Health, Austin Health and Peter MacCallum regarding characterising allergy phenotypes Dr Natasha Holmes, ID and Antibiotic Allergy Physician, on drug induced acute interstitial nephritis Karen Urbancic, ID Pharmacist at Austin Health and the National Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship, on the practicalities of desensitisation protocols.

Back by popular demand, Prof Jason Roberts joins Dan to discuss ceftriaxone. They discuss situations where ceftriaxone is useful (spoiler: it's not "being an inpatient") and some pharmacokinetic quirks.

Jane caught up with A/Prof Ernie Butler, neurologist and head of the Monash MS Clinic at the SHPA Vic Branch symposium. We discuss: Why neurology is the most interesting specialty Background to MS - the link to the sun and its symptoms and progression Management of MS with traditional drugs, and how the monoclonal antibodies fit into practice Monitoring for side effects, including screening for JC virus Managing these side effects  

Jane chats with Dr Jenny Stephens, pain specialist and anaesthetist at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney. Jane and Jenny discuss: The significance of Australia’s problem with prescription opioids How the risks of post-operative opioids may start before admission The problems, beyond dependance, caused by long term opioid use Risk factors for opioid dependance post-discharge How Australia compares to the rest of the world with regard to problems with prescription opioids The impact of a pharmacy-led intervention at St Vincent’s Sydney Empowering junior doctors to stand up for good opioid prescribing Simple interventions pharmacists can make to help Empowering patients and managing their expectations around analgesia

Jane and Dan caught up with Chris Braithwaite, a pharmacist with the Galambila Aboriginal Health Service in Northern NSW. Chris spoke to us about: his journey to working with indigenous communities what an average day looks like the challenges posed by existing funding models for home medicines reviews cultural competence and institutional racism

Dr Kimberley Haines, Vice Chair of ANZICS Victorian Branch and ICU Physio at Western Health joins Dan and Jane to discuss survival following ICU admissions. Dr Kimberley discusses her journey to research, what happens to patients following ICU discharge and how we can improve the ICU journey for patients, staff and family.

Jane and Dan caught up with Professor Jason Roberts, NHMRC Practitioner Fellow at The University of Queensland and Consultant Clinical Pharmacist at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. Jason is a senior member of the Burns Trauma and Critical Care Research Centre within the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research and is Director of the Centre for Translational Anti-infective Pharmacodynamics in School of Pharmacy where he is also Chair of the research Strategies Committee.  We could have talked to Jason all day. In part two of our two-part discussion on pharmacokinetic modelling of antimicrobials we talk about: different pharmacodynamic models for antimicrobials: concentration, time and AUC dependant  the clinical evidence for using pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic modelling future directions for clinical pharmacokinetics

Jane and Dan caught up with Professor Jason Roberts, NHMRC Practitioner Fellow at The University of Queensland and Consultant Clinical Pharmacist at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. Jason is a senior member of the Burns Trauma and Critical Care Research Centre within the University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research and is Director of the Centre for Translational Anti-infective Pharmacodynamics in School of Pharmacy where he is also Chair of the research Strategies Committee.  We could have talked to Jason all day. In part one of our two-part discussion on pharmacokinetic modelling of antimicrobials we talk about: Jason's pathway to a research career and the projects that his team are currently working on The patients and pathogens that benefit from individualised dosing of antimicrobials The narrowing therapeutic indices of some antimicrobials Some under-recognised adverse effects of beta-lactam antibiotics how to apply pharmacokinetics and individualised dosing in everyday practice

Dan caught up with NAPSA President Sandra Minas at the inaugural SHPA-NAPSA symposium in Melbourne on Friday. We discussed issues facing students, the results of the latest NAPSA survey and key programs being rolled out by NAPSA. We learn that despite concerns about graduate numbers, the rise of discounters and low pay, almost all pharmacy students are dedicated to their profession, and are looking forward to their careers.

Jane and Dan spoke to Horst Thiele from the Primary Care and Transitions of Care specialty practice leadership group. We asked Horst about the barriers and opportunities for pharmacists to assist patients at transitions of care and the evidence base for these services.

Dan and Jane are joined by Clarissa Rentsch to discuss updates on Inflammatory Bowel Disease with Clarissa Rentsch. Clarissa is the Senior Pharmacist - Gastroenterology at Alfred Health, and discusses new therapy for IBD, the developing role for TDM in the management of this disease and her innovative clinic based role at The Alfred. We discuss: Commencing therapy with and monitoring purine analogues Infliximab - its expanding role in therapy, and the emerging field of TDM for biologicals Clarissa's innovative role in the clinics, including dose adjustment and monitoring.

Jane and Dan spoke to Dr Manuel Serrano Santos, Lecturer of Pharmacy at QUT and member of the editorial committee for the third edition of Don't Rush to Crush. We spoke to Manuel about: his role as a specialist dysphagia pharmacist what goes wrong when medicines are modified inappropriately common reasons for making mistakes when modifying medicines

This is a reboot of our first ever episode: Antibiotic Allergies with Dr Jason Trubiano

For our special 50th Episode we first discuss some things we've learned from making the podcast. Then Jane caught up with Dr Jason Trubiano, an Infectious Diseases Physician from Austin Health. Jason appeared on our first episode, and in Episode 50 we get an update on the world of antibiotic allergies and bust some more myths. We're also re-releasing Episode One as a special 50th Episode treat.

Jane caught up with two members of the writing group for the recently updated Therapeutic Guidelines: Cardiovascular. Confusingly, they are also called Jane and Dan! Jane O'Connor is an Editor at Therapeutic Guidelines and Dr Daniel Scherer is a Cardiologist and PhD Candidate at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute.

Dan discusses PREPx with three experts: A/Prof Edwina Wright from The Alfred, Monash Uni and The Burnet Institute, Alison Duncan, Lead Pharmacist for HIV at The Alfred and Luxi Lal, Pharmacist and Scientist from the Burnet Institute. We were so fortunate to have Edwina - who ran the pivotal Australian trials and was so kind in sharing her knowledge with us. We learn about: How the key Australian studies were set up and run Novel dosing modalities Information for pharmacists and key counselling points for dispensing PREP Side effects and monitoring with PREP How PREP is changing the paradigm of HIV prevention

Jane and Dan talk Specialty Practice with Courtney Munro and Suzanne Newman from SHPA and Susie Welch from St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney. We talk about: Development of standards of practice How involvement in specialty practice can form part of your CPD plan What can be gained from involvement in a Specialty Practice Stream Hot topics in Emergency Medicine

Jane and Dan spoke to Bronwyn Clark, CEO of the Australian Pharmacy Council and Catriona Bradley, Executive Director of the Irish Institute of Pharmacy. Bronwyn is the Host Committee Convenor and Catriona is a keynote speaker at the upcoming Life Long Learning in Pharmacy Conference. We discuss different models for assessing pharmacist competence, how to measure and develop competency in soft skills and what patients want pharmacists to be doing.

Dan is joined by eminent physician, pharmacologist and former pharmacist Prof  Dave Juurlink from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. We talk about: Why Tramadol is a bad choice of analgesia Why Codeine upscheduling is a good idea for Canada and Australia How scheduling impacts medication choice How a 100-word "paper" in NEJM contributed to the opioid epidemic

In the lead up to International Women’s Day 2018, Jane sat down with three Pharmacy Leaders: Sue Kirsa (Director of Pharmacy, Monash Health), Nicole Dirnbauer (Assistant Deputy Director of Pharmacy, Monash Children’s Hospital) and Marisa Hodgkinson (SHPA Victorian Branch Committee Chair).   We talk about: Challenges and things that have helped build a career Whether a mentor is necessary for success Whether we still need to be talking about women in healthcare leadership   At the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA)’s International Women’s Day Breakfast Debate, members can make up their own minds as thought leaders from Australian clinical pharmacy debate: Priority or luxury? Flexible hours in clinical pharmacy practice.

Jane and Dan spoke to Janelle Penno, Perioperative Medicine Pharmacist at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne. Janelle's paper "Improving Medication Labelling - Patients Driving Their Information" was awarded best paper at the MM2017 conference in November. We spoke to Janelle about: Patients' preferences for medicine instructions Principles of Plain English communication Useful resources to help improve the way that health professionals communicate with their patients

ane talks to Benita Suckling, a clinical pharmacist with the Opioid Stewardship Service at Redcliffe Hospital in Queensland. We spoke about: A model for an opioid stewardship service, and why it is beneficial Risk factors for inappropriate opioid use post discharge Strategies to optimise pain management on discharge SHPA members can join the Pain Management Specialty Practice stream to connect with other pharmacists working in this area

Jane and Dan spoke to Garth Birdsey, Senior clinician pharmacist at Barwon Health. We asked Garth about: Real world experience with DOACs in special patient groups  Concerns about under-dosing patients with DOACs Optimal use of beta-blockers and why metoprolol 12.5 mg bd is often inappropriate in IHD

In our final MM2017 episode, we speak to Rahul Singal Associate Chief Pharmacist - Operational Productivity at Kings College Hospital in London. Rahul was a keynote speaker at SHPA MM2017. We talk to Rahul about: The future for pharmacists in the UK and Australia How pharmacists can improve patient safety at transitions of care Models for pharmacist prescribing Professional responsibilities and expanded roles

Jane and Dan spoke to Dr James Edwards at MM2017. James is a Senior Staff Specialist in Emergency Medicine at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, he is also the founder of www.onthewards.org which is designed to assist medical practitioners in their earliest days of postgraduate practice. We spoke to James about: FOAM (Free Open Access Medical Education) Different models of education for health professionals Dissemination of research and digital scholarship Quality control issues for open access information

Jane and Dan caught up with Professor Zubin Austin at the recent MM2017 SHPA Conference where he was a keynote speaker. Professor Austin is the Murray Koffler Chair in Management at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on the professional and personal development of the health human resources workforce. ' We spoke to Zubin about: Culture shock Defining a professional culture How understanding the culture of different health craft groups can improve the relationships between them

Jane and Dan caught up with Natalie Tasker and Kristin Xenos, two members of the MM2017 Conference Scientific Program committee for a recap of the conference.

Live from Day 2 of the SHPA MM2017 conference, Jane and Dan caught up with some notable attendees: Amanda Horiniak, Resident Pharmacist at Alfred Health and newly awarded Resident of the Year Andrew Matthews, General Manager, Workforce Transformation at SHPA Stephen Bazire, author of the Psychotropic Drug Directory.

In the first of our special series of episodes live from MM2017, we are talking to A/Prof Thomas Gottlieb, Senior Staff Specialist in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at Concord Hospital in NSW. A/Prof Gottlieb's presentation at MM2017 is titled "Do More AMS, Pearls from Years in the Life of AMS". We spoke to A/Prof Gottlieb about challenges and wins in antimicrobial stewardship, engaging clinicians and patients and driving behavioural change.

In a preview of the upcoming SHPA Conference, we have two guests this week: Emeritus Professor Kim Oates, Director of Undergraduate Quality and Safety Education at the Clinical Excellence Commission in Sydney. Prof Oates is presenting a Plenary about patient safety. Fiona Doukas is an Antimicrobial Stewardship Pharmacist at Concord Repatriation General Hospital in Sydney. Fiona is on the conference organising committee. Medicines Management 2017, the 43rd SHPA National Conference is in Sydney for 16-19th November full MM2017 program is here: https://mm2017shpa.com/ 

Jane spoke to Paul Tait, lead Palliative Care Pharmacist for the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network We spoke about: The differing presentations of palliative care patients. Interventions to improve access to end of life medicines for community palliative care patients. Useful resources for health professionals.

Jane and Dan spoke to Kate O'Hara, Lead Pharmacist for Women, Youth and Children at The Canberra Hospital. We talk about: The many ways that paediatric patients are different to adults Pharmacokinetic differences between adults and children Off-label use of medicines in paediatrics and the associated practicalities

At the recent 2017 SHPA Residency Symposium, Dan joined Beth Ward, Foundation Program Manager at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and Ian Coombes, SHPA Vice President and Director of Pharmacy at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital to discuss plans and programs to support and develop our workforce.

Jane sat down with Dr Chris Leung from Austin Health. Chris is a gastroenterologist, medical lead for clinical education and local clinical lead for Choosing Wisely. Jane and Chris talk about: the reasons why proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are in the top 10 most commonly prescribed medicines in Australia the problems associated with long-term PPIs The general principles of the Choosing Wisely campaign in Australia

Dan sat down with Nashwa Masnoon, a PhD student at the University of South Australia and pharmacist at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, and Professor Sepehr Shakib Director of Clinical Pharmacology at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Nashwa and Sepehr spoke to Dan about a new web-based tool that they have developed: WIPE (What is Polypharmacy Exactly?).  The WIPE tool is being used to gauge opinions of Australian clinicians about what polypharmacy means in practice. Users are presented with cases and asked to rate the risk of medicine-related harm. The results will be used to inform a working definition for polypharmacy in Australia. You can access the WIPE tool here: wipe.logicsquad.net/signup

Jane and Dan spoke to Dr Rohan Elliott, senior pharmacist in aged care at Austin Health, adjunct senior lecturer at Monash University, and a research consultant with the Royal District Nursing Service Institute.  We talk to Rohan about: ·      The definition of geriatric medicine, and what it means to be frail ·      How the geriatric medicine approach differs from other specialties ·      Decision making in geriatric medicine  

Jane and Dan talk to Hao Vo-Tran, a pharmacist at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne and editor of the Royal Women’s Hospital Pregnancy and Breastfeeding Medicines Guide. We talk to Hao about: General principles in evaluating the safety of medicines in pregnancy and breastfeeding. Limitations of the TGA categorisation system for prescribing medicines in pregnancy Strategies for discussing risks with patients

Jane and Dan chat to Dr Jacinta Johnson, Specialist Pharmacist, Clinical Educator and Lecturer in Pharmacy at the University of South Australia. We talk to Jacinta about The risks from codeine and the reasons behind the decision to reschedule it to a prescription-only medicine.  Whether or not there is a role for codeine as an analgesic. Alternative non-prescription analgesic options  

Jane sat down with Gillian Swinnerton and Jerry Yik from the Pharmacists’ Support Service. We talk about the Pharmacists' Support Service (PSS) and the help that they provide. To contact the Pharmacists' Support Service call 1300 244 910  

Jane and Dan chat to Dr Jo Grace, a gastroenterologist and hepatologist from Austin Health.  We talk to Jo about: What we have learned from 12 months of subsidised Hep C treatment in Australia Clinical considerations when treating patients with direct acting antiviral agents Future directions in hepatitis C: long term outcomes and new pangenotypical treatments  

Jim Siderov is the senior Oncology Pharmacist at Austin Health. He is also an Australian Advanced Practice Pharmacist and is US Board Certified in Oncology Pharmacy.    We speak to Jim about:  Checkpoint inhibitors: their mechanism and role in oncology  Autoimmune toxicities and how they are managed clinically  Emerging evidence and future potential uses for these agents

Dan and Jane are joined by Kristin Michaels, SHPA CEO and Professor Michael Dooley, SHPA President to discuss the proposed changes to the constitution and respond to members frequently asked questions.