History of Pharmacist Prescribing
Pharmacist independent prescribing has taken years of planning, review, and discussion, and it has been a long-fought journey from the early days of the 1980s when there has been a trend towards increasing deregulations of prescription-only medicines (POMs) to pharmacy-only medicines (P medicines) or general sale list (GSL) status for pharmacists’ counter-prescribing role in pharmacies and general retail outlets (Blenkinsopp A & Bradley C, 1996) to we are today in the position where pharmacists are able to prescribe for patients they have assessed and diagnosed independently.
The first Crown Report published in April 1998 (DoH, 1998) raises the awareness of an unsatisfactory level on clarity of responsibility
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Independent prescribing remains the mainstay of prescribing practice amongst pharmacist prescribers (Latter et al., 2010). However, supplementary prescribing, and to a lesser extent Patient Group Directions (PGDs), are adapted in occasion where the negotiation for appropriate level of support and supervision are required to allow review of prescribing by a second practitioner and to promote consistent clinical …show more content…
Despite these negative notions, the extension of pharmacist prescribing has nowadays been perceived as generally positive with attitude shifts of health care professionals on pharmacist independent prescribing, supporting by approximately 35% shift of service delivery from doctors to pharmacists in Acute / Foundation Trust (Latter et al., 2010) and the possibly more importantly, acceptance by patients with 87% of patients are satisfied with the consultation with their PIPs (Latter et al.,
(DoH, 2005, p8). A diagnosis and treatment plan is agreed on by the independent prescriber and from this the supplementary prescriber can review and amend doses as seen appropriate with the patient. DoH (2005) initially suggested supplementary prescribing was more appropriate for a longer-term setting because an agreed CMP is required prior to prescribing. Nuttall & Rutt-Howard (2011) states many professionals often feel limited in supplementary prescribing as they are boundaried by the CMP. By adopting this outlook, patient’s presentations in the longer-term setting would then be classed as all being uncomplicated and predictable. DoH (2005) reports supplementary prescribing allows clinicians to develop their confidence. By understanding not all patients are the same and that complex cases are common, the supplementary prescriber can therefore exercise skills in observing and reviewing any changes in clients and report back to the independent prescriber in a safe manner and develop their
the roles and responsibilities of the person prescribing medication are to prescribe in the best interests of the persons. They will need be know the patient’s medical history and the current medication they are taking, give all information to the patient so the patient can make an informed choice, know the current guidance which is published in the BNF, prescribe the current dosage and make a follow up appointment.
Byerly, W. (2009). Working with the institutional review board. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy: AJHP: Official Journal Of The American Society Of Health System Pharmacists, 66(2), 176-184. Retrieved from http://library.kaplan.edu/content.php?pid=150035
When making the decision to prescribe there are a number of influence you have to consider. It is important to have an awareness of these influences and take them into consideration when issuing a prescription. It is importance to have knowledge of the DOH (2006) Medicines Matters this give guidance on the mechanisms available for prescribing and administration and supply of products. Team trends and external company’s and there representatives promoting their products have a big influence on your prescribing practice Bradley (2006) found that these influences were of concern to some nurses feeling that their colleague may ask them to prescribe for patients they haven’t seen. Thomas (2008)
‘Independent prescribing is prescribing by a practitioner (e.g. doctor, dentist, nurse, and pharmacist) responsible and accountable for the assessment of patients with undiagnosed or diagnosed conditions and for decisions about the clinical management required, including prescribing. In partnership with the patient, independent prescribing is one element of the clinical management of a patient. It requires an initial assessment, interpretation of that assessment, a decision on safe and appropriate therapy, and a process for ongoing management. The independent prescriber is
As future pharmacists, we are going to face with not only the medications but also the patients, which the former ones are our tools while the latter ones are the people we use correct tools to care about. We are required to combine our pharmacy knowledge among medications with patients’ different health conditions to create the patient-centered care and provide the best outcomes. However, this care trend is in transition now, from professional-orientated to patient-centered.
As a clinician in a hospital, the pharmacist becomes a member of a professional healthcare team. In their clinical practice, pharmacists are directly involved in ensuring optimal medical therapy for patients by devising therapeutic regimens specific to individual patients. They also staff the Drug Information and Poison Centers whose task is to provide information to other healthcare professionals to assist with therapeutic decision making (uq, 2012).
Prescribing in Australia is authorised by individual state and territory legislations that deal with drugs and poisons. These legislations allow various levels of health professionals to administer/supply medications under an assortment of protocols or direct order agreements. Any prescriber must also follow processes that have been determined by their professional bodies, which is legally binding in Australia. Legally, prescribers must also maintain all confidentiality and privacy clauses. Also, the patient’s health and wellbeing should be the focus of all decision making so that no-harm should come to the patient. The knowledge and skills obtained from the required training should be used to optimise patient’s health.
Specialty pharmacy is based on the dispensing and managing medications based on the disease state. Some examples of this include but are not limited to cancer, HIV/AIDS, hemophilia, and immune disorders. Specific and continuous monitoring is required for many chronic conditions and generally there is a high cost for the use of certain medications. Specialty pharmacy plays a role in ensuring the best outcome for these conditions and the minimalization of adverse reactions. Some of the appealing aspects listed about these positions include being able to work with other fields or health professionals, spending a good portion of their time working with patients, and having a flexible schedule. The more negative aspects of this position include traveling, the amount of prescriptions processed, and some respondents stated there was low patient interaction. According to United Health Groups article The Growth of Specialty Pharmacy, due to new therapies and treatments spending on specialty pharmacy is growing by double digit numbers. In 2012 the spending on specialty drugs was estimated to be about $87 billion and it is suggested that spending is could increase to $400 billion by
All three providers have agreed that prescribing a pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatment regimen must result from clinical judgment based on a thorough assessment of the patient and the patient’s environment, present and past medical history, current home medication, the determination of differential diagnosis and appropriate diagnostic procedure, a review of potential alternative therapies and specific knowledge about the drug chosen and the disease process it is designed to treat (Woo & Robinson, 2016; p.6).
A physician could make mistakes in prescribing, the pharmacy could send the wrong medication, but who actually gave it to the patient is accountable for the consequences. For this reason, it’s our responsibility to implement change in our practice based on the evidence in order to ensure safe patient care.
As well as using multiple physicians, elderly clients may use more than one pharmacy. Each pharmacy attempting oversight of the client’s medication use may not be aware of all the medications prescribed.
Braaf, S., Rixon, S., Williams, A., Liew, D. and Manias, E. (2015), Medication communication during handover interactions in specialty practice settings. J Clin Nurs, 24: 2859–2870. doi:10.1111/jocn.12894
There are other pharmacy staff who also have roles in relation to the safe dispensing of medicines. A pharmacist is responsible for: Overall checking of a prescription to make sure that it is legal and written by a person qualified to do so, dispensing the right quantity of the correct medicine, ensuring that medicines are correctly labelled with the person’s name, the name of the medicine and the dosage, providing advice and treatment for minor illnesses, injuries and health concerns, providing a repeat prescription service in co-operation with GP
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in adults worldwide and it accounts for approximately one-third of mortality in Canada and in the United States. Elevated blood pressure (BP) is also another major cause of death worldwide. The reduction of BP is a cornerstone of the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD), there are numerous hypertensive patients that do not achieve adequate blood pressure control. In the United States in 2009-2010, there was an estimation of 53% of all hypertensive people and 40% of treated hypertensive people had uncontrolled BP. The lower rates of blood pressure control have been reported in European countries.