APRIL,Edition # 24, 2001

With the rollout of the Domicillary Medication Management Review (DMMR) system associated with the Third Agreement between the Guild and the Government it is a good time to investigate some of the options available to pharmacists who wish to update their knowledge and skills to gain accreditation.
The Australian Association of Consultant Pharmacy (AACP) is one organisation charged with accrediting pharmacists for the DMMR scheme.
The AACP requires pharmacists to have training necessary to prove their competency as a medication review pharmacist. This can include attending the AACP workshops to learn more about medication management, or further postgraduate study towards a Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy.
This article explores two of the options for those who opt to go back to school.
Diplomas in Clinical Pharmacy are designed to provide the latest knowledge and ideas on drug and non-drug treatment, and to improve the clinical skills of pharmacists in fields such as pharmacokinetics, therapeutic drug monitoring and the monitoring of laboratory results. Pharmacists are also trained in methods of documenting their work, such as intervention records and written medication reviews.
A popular option for many years was the course offered by the Society of Hospital Pharmacists (SHPA), but this course is currently under review and not accepting new enrollments.
So what other options are available, especially for those without a lot of time to spare? The Australian College of Pharmacy Practice (ACPP) offers a distance education package, comprising a series of modules which can be credited towards a Specialty Certificate of Practice or a Graduate Certificate or Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy.
There are two streams available for the Diploma and Certificate, Pharmacotherapeutics and Primary Health Care. Pharmacotherapeutics is probably more suited to those in a hospital environment, or those wanting to undertake medication reviews.
The Primary Health Care stream is tailored more towards community pharmacists who want to be more active in treating patients in their pharmacy.
If studying full-time by correspondence there would be 500 hours of study per year, which is considerable.
A full two year Graduate Diploma would cost in the vicinity of $3500 based on 2001 prices, plus membership of the ACPP (currently $135/year).
Some colleagues are currently enrolled in AACP courses so I'll pass on some feedback as the year goes on.
A Graduate Diploma from ACPP can also be used to gain advanced standing in a Masters of Pharmacy Practice at Charles Sturt University.
Most of Australia's universities offer postgraduate courses along these lines, and at the risk of sounding biased, I'll describe the program currently offered at the University of Queensland.
The School of Pharmacy has put a lot of work into the structure of their program, and its modular nature is an asset.
The Graduate Certificate is a one year course which involves correspondence work, and four one-week blocks of on-location teaching in Brisbane hospitals.
The Graduate Diploma is a further year's work in the same correspondence/on-location structure.
The teaching in the hospitals is an obvious advantage, but how many of us can spare the four weeks a year to attend?
For many hospital pharmacists this would involve using your entire annual leave, unless you are entitled to some form of study leave. Community pharmacists would have locum costs to add, or if an employee pharmacist, a loss of one month's income may be the reality.
The cost of the Graduate Diploma is around $11,000 based on 2001 prices, plus the additional costs you would incur in texts, travel, etc.
So this is an expensive option, but does offer the advantage over the ACPP's course, that is has some face to face teaching for those who can spare the time.
Upon completing the Graduate Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy there are further honours available in the same stream, a Masters in Clinical Pharmacy, or even a Doctorate in Clinical Pharmacy.
The Doctorate course is claimed as the first professional pharmacy doctorate in Australia. So those are a couple of the options available to pharmacists who want some extra training to become accredited for medication reviews. With this comes the potential for an extra revenue source for your pharmacy, and the chance to gain a competitive edge on your local rivals by offering a more complete pharmacy service.
The costs may seem high but in a few years time, as the revenue from the distributive side of pharmacy diminishes, and the revenue from professional services increases, this may be a small price to pay in order to keep up.
Ends

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