May, Edition # 26, 2001

The legal responsibility taken by a pharmacist in the dispensing of medicines must be devolved to another registered professional.
This needs to be achieved before there can be any major change to the function of a pharmacist in the health care team.
So long as the "pharmacist" is expected by law to take responsibility for the final dispense task of affixing the label to a box and be ready for collection by the patient, the job will always be tied to the dispensing bench.
The law governing this is the Poisons Act (or similar) in each State and Territory, which dates back to the 1930s. The law must move with the practice and this has not occurred in pharmacy.
The process of dispensing has changed, but the law has not.
Many pharmacists have wrongly held on too long to this task for fear another person may come and take it way and they will be left with nothing to do. See how pharmacists have reacted to the suggestion through the years that nurses (or "nurse practitioners") be able to dispense.
The truth is that the dispensing process in pharmaceutical service delivery has evolved into a menial, manual and repetitive task, which a person such as a qualified dispensary technician should be able to carry out without any trouble. Given this responsibility, the technician will enthusiastically embrace the new found responsibility and be doubly sure no mistakes are made.
The frenetic that pharmacists have protected their role in the process has been to the detriment of the development of an expanded professional role.
The responsibilities that a pharmacist has in the retail setting, and embraced by the Poisons Acts, mean they have to be there all the time, they have to provide the final check, and they have to be available for the clients for consultation. How erroneous this has been, as well as being a deterrent for the profession moving ahead!
What is needed is a course developed and recognised such that it can be incorporated in both the Health Professionals Registration Acts (or similar) and the Poisons Acts.
The registered dispensary technician can taken charge of the pharmacy when it is open for business, be responsible for the dispensing of medicines, and refer to electronic data bases for information to be given to patients or doctors.
This leaves the pharmacists free to consult with others in the health care team, and really develop a professional role which is respected by others.
So long as "pharmacy schools" continue to graduate highly knowledgeable persons to do a menial repetitive task there will be problems at the workplace.
It is not so much a shortage of pharmacists in Australia, but a shortage of interesting and challenging jobs for the graduates to do.
Pharmacists of today, throw away the shackles, untie the chain, and give the responsibility over to someone trained to meet the task, and be recognised within the law.
Training course development first, change the law second, and then await the new life.
It can happen but it is up to you!
Start the lobby now, and tell the decision makers you are not prepared to continue in this pre 1950s model.
Comments favourable or not are welcome - have your say in the future, and remember to shape the future you have to have the courage to start living in it! Start today.
Ends

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