The Respiratory Pharmacy Task Force: Key Objectives

The key objectives of the Task Force are to:

 

1. Establish a peak respiratory pharmacist leadership team that is responsible for the establishment of clear guidance to pharmacists as new therapies emerge, disease management evolves and guidelines adapt to new evidence both nationally and globally.

 

2. Establish a national network of practising pharmacists, which can be engaged with and activated effectively, efficiently and consistently across the profession. This network of community pharmacists will extend beyond the timeframe of the Task Force and will run in perpetuity under the banner of the PSA Respiratory Community Pharmacy of Special Interest.

 

3. Establish the current status of respiratory management in pharmacy practice, identify the gaps between current practice, current guidelines and the needs of the current and future needs of the community with regards to optimal respiratory care and outcomes. This will be achieved through the administration of the first-ever national survey of pharmacists specifically around respiratory management. This will form the basis of a publication in a high impact peer reviewed journal.

 

4. Produce a position paper that clearly articulates the role of the modern-day pharmacist in respiratory management and concisely articulates the complexities, opportunities and challenges in enabling this role.

 

5. Develop a ‘Scope of Practice in Asthma Management for Pharmacy Strategy’ articulating the core competencies every practicing pharmacist must possess in order to meet the modern day needs to patients and the community in terms of respiratory management. This document will encompass a strategy to ensure that the needs to pharmacist in meeting their scope of practice are addressed, including education and training and will also include the intersection between asthma, allergy and other respiratory conditions. Similarly, a “Scope of Practice in COPD Management for Community Pharmacy” may also be developed.

 

6. Develop and implement a national respiratory advocacy strategy through which the PSA and the Task Force will work with accrediting bodies, state and federal health departments to raise pharmacist respiratory competency to levels identified in the ‘Scope of Practice’ findings and ensure that alignment and acceptability of the scope of practice is aligned not only with clinical management guidelines but with the scope of practice of other health care professional groups.

 

7. Develop and implement a national practitioner development strategy towards pharmacist respiratory specialisation.

 

8. Implement the framework for large scale dissemination of evidence based algorithms which can evolve over time to meet the current and emerging needs of prescribers and patients across their respiratory journey that is utilised by pharmacists in the delivery of optimal respiratory care.

 

9. Build a community of respiratory pharmacist experts that can be utilised to communicate key messages around asthma, COPD, allergic rhinitis and other respiratory conditions and support education initiatives across Australia