Fostering a sustainable
future for pharmacists
The Australian Pharmacist Workforce
Summit – the first event of its kind –
was held at the Faculty of Pharmacy
and Pharmaceutical Sciences in June.
The event attracted delegates from the major
pharmacy organisations, along with the Australian
Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, the
Commonwealth Department of Health and the
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
A joint initiative of the faculty’s Project Pharmacist
and the Australian Pharmacy Liaison Forum
(APLF), the Workforce Summit gathered delegates
under the theme ‘Uniting our profession for
a sustainable future’.
“We surveyed the major pharmacy organisations
in advance to shape the agenda for the summit,”
John says. “Our objective was to consider the
pharmacist workforce in all areas of practice and
identify major issues affecting sustainable and
rewarding professional roles that contribute to
the health of the Australian population.”
As Project Pharmacist director John Jackson
explains, the aim of the summit was to identify
and explore the major issues of the pharmacist
workforce. “It’s in our interest as educators to
ensure practice opportunities meet the needs and
expectations of our graduates, the wider profession
and the community,” he says. “When the faculty
established Project Pharmacist last year, we
began by identifying factors surrounding primary
care pharmacists which have a bearing on the
implementation of new professional roles. One of
the priority factors identified was the workforce.”
John sees the capability and capacity of the
workforce as underpinning the profession’s
future. “A professional and sustainable workforce
is essential to address the growing needs of the
population and enable the continued expansion of
the pharmacist’s scope of practice. So we decided
to conduct a comprehensive workforce summit.
As the APLF was also keen to conduct a workforce
study, we collaborated to deliver the summit jointly.”
Project Pharmacist is an initiative of the
Monash Centre for Medicine Use and Safety.
Established in 2014, Project Pharmacist
seeks to support new models of practice
for pharmacists – to better benefit patients,
meet health care demands and build a
rewarding profession.
He adds that the initiative sought to take a
comprehensive look at the workforce issues,
and identify the data needed to monitor and
address these.
“The feedback from the survey and subsequent
assessment at the summit identified a range
of priority areas,” John says. “We need to study
the workforce opportunities and issues from
the perspectives of both supply and demand.
We need to explore the attitudes and beliefs
of pharmacists. And we need to conduct a
longitudinal study tracking a group of pharmacists
over several years.
“Building on the valuable groundwork of the
summit, Project Pharmacist will seek to continue
to work with the APLF and other groups to
investigate these and other issues pertinent
to the enhancement of pharmacists’ practice
– for the profession and the broader community.”
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