Pharmacists well placed to manage chronic pain
A report on a recent ABC Four Corners program, Oxy – the Hidden Epidemic – dealing with growing reports of the misuse of prescription drugs, has highlighted the crucial role pharmacists can play in the management of chronic pain, according to the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA).
The Four Corners report focused on the belief by some experts that the widespread use and abuse of legally prescribed opioid-based drugs (known as oxycodone) could create a new and devastating drug epidemic across the suburbs of Australia.
PSA national president, Warwick Plunkett, said the report turned the spotlight on the role pharmacists can play and on the need to have appropriate training for health professionals in the management of chronic pain.
The future of pharmacy in Australia
Australia’s health system is under pressure from a variety of factors including an ageing population, increasing levels of chronic disease, health workforce shortages and concerns over the safety and quality of services, the PSA says.
The signing of the Fifth Community Pharmacy Agreement and released Government responses to several high-profile reports herald future changes to the health system and present challenges to the roles played by pharmacists and other health professionals.
Mr Plunkett, said that in light of these and other factors, there was a need to take stock of where the pharmacy profession is now and where the profession wants to head. The first step in this process is the PSA’s Issues Paper on the Future of Pharmacy.
Mr Plunkett said the Issues paper identified the emerging issues for pharmacy and was intended to stimulate debate regarding the challenges and opportunities facing Australian pharmacy.
“The changes and challenges for pharmacy are not unique to Australia and other countries have similarly sought to establish a vision for the future of pharmacy which will undoubtedly have some lessons for the Australian experience.
“Change is coming whether we like it or not. Resisting the inevitable is not an option and to try to do so is not what we expect of a mature profession that is ready to grasp the challenges of a reforming health system,” he said.
In other research, an educational intervention using electronic media did not significantly improve the prescribing habits of health professionals working with aged care facilities.
The study, by researchers at the University of Queensland’s School of Pharmacy, involved three fact sheets being emailed to GPs, nurses and pharmacists over a six-month period with the aim of decreasing the long-term use of benzodiazepines in aged care facilities.
Results showed a significantly smaller number of aged care residents were on benzodiazepines for six months or more after the intervention compared with before.
But while the study experienced high rates of acceptance by health professionals, a drug use evaluation in the two participating GP divisions and two controls found no large changes in benzodiazepine use overall.
There was no significant change in the number of residents taking benzodiazepines or taking them for a long time and there were no significant differences between the control and intervention areas after the intervention.
While the quantitative use of benzodiazepines did not change after the intervention, the study’s authors said the positive results seen in the aged care facilities highlight that this type of intervention warrants further investigation and development.
“Many health care professionals in the intervention areas remembered seeing the electronic educational material for benzodiazepines,” the authors wrote.
“[Drug use evaluation] in aged care facilities are relatively new tools and there is not much literature surrounding evaluation of this use. However, it was quite easy to implement and aged care facility staff were keen to participate and recognised it as an important part of quality assurance.”
