On Saturday 25 September, we celebrate World Pharmacists Day, an opportunity to reflect on the many ways in which pharmacists work to improve the health of patients and the community.
This year, the theme is “Pharmacy: Always trusted for your health”, which is an opportunity to celebrate the trust placed in the profession and increase awareness of the vital role pharmacists play in improving health.
Our Pharmacy team at Monash Health are essential in providing access to safe, effective, and affordable medicines to our patients and the wider community. This team is comprised of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, store persons and administrative employees.
Nicole Dirnbauer, Deputy Director of Pharmacy – Operations, said our community trusts the Pharmacy team due to their “extensive knowledge about medicines and the ability to share this information with patients and other clinicians”.
The team have been instrumental in supporting our community throughout COVID-19 by assisting with our vaccination program and ensuring patients can continue to access and receive their medicines during this time.
Nicole highlighted the initiatives that the Pharmacy team have incorporated during COVID-19.
“We implemented free postage of medicines so that patients can continue to receive treatment without needing to come into hospital to collect their medicine. Our Hospital Outreach Medication Review Team are also using telehealth options to continue with follow-up appointments for patients after they have been discharged from hospital, reducing face-to-face visits”.
Wendy Ewing, Deputy Director of Pharmacy – Quality, offered some insight into the role that Pharmacists are trusted to fill at Monash Health.
Wendy said, “medicines are the most common intervention used in health care. Almost every patient who attends Monash Health will be treated with medicine, so pharmacists as medicine experts are critical and integral to the care of all Monash Health patients”.
“At Monash Health, pharmacists lead the organisation’s compliance with the Medication Safety Standard of the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards, and this encompasses all aspects of medication management, not only the dispensing activity that occurs within the Pharmacy Departments.”
In addition to the more common clinical, dispensing and compounding roles for pharmacists, Monash Health provides opportunities for pharmacists in areas such as:
- Clinical trials involving medicines
- Quality use of medicines and medication safety
- Clinical informatics
- Hospital Outreach Medication Review
- Formulary management
- Education
- Research
- Medicines information centre
- Antimicrobial stewardship
- Major projects
Nicole and Wendy both said that the most rewarding thing about being a pharmacist is working in an environment where the patient is the focus of all decisions.
Nicole said, “helping patients understand their medicines and the healthcare system allows them to make decisions about their treatment.”
At Monash Health, we celebrate and thank our pharmacists for the critical role they play in supporting our community through COVID-19 and ensuring medicine use is safe and effective.
Approved by Sue Kirsa, Director of Pharmacy.