LAIRD’S SHOUT
Could protected learning time for pharmacists be a reality?
As we develop into more clinically focused areas, like independent prescribing and managing lists of patients, protected learning has to become a reality.
With this in mind, I was delighted to read about the RPS in Scotland advocating the need for protected learning time in their manifesto, Right Medicine – Better Health – Fitter Future.
For me, being a professional is largely about managing risk and containing that risk, so that we can deliver a service for patients. My career began in the community sector, and to be honest, involved the largely technical supply role familiar to community pharmacists in recent years.
Continuing professional development is critical to deliver this role safely. In fact, my employer has supported this and for that I am very grateful.
Recently, however I have been exposed to much more dynamic and complex risks associated with being a practising independent prescriber. I am willing to take responsibility for those risks, justify my actions, behave professionally and hopefully have a more positive impact on patient management. I would love to think that someday in the future I could help and support other pharmacists to take this step.
The management of a patient requires an array of areas of competence, some of which are quite different to those I had become used to before I became a prescribing community pharmacist. I love the contact I get from my new medical prescribing colleagues. I really enjoy observing and getting feedback on how it’s OK to make clinical decisions to effectively manage a patient.
A good example of feedback I got recently was about an asthmatic patient who was a smoker. For a number of months I had been fi xated with helping him give up smoking, because I knew that, in terms of impact, this was probably the most profound way of improving his
60 - SCOTTISH PHARMACIST
asthma. On conferring with one of the local GPs, she suggested parking the smoking issue and putting all my effort initially into controlling the asthma. The shift of emphasis worked and control was achieved. The patient is now more receptive to the idea of smoking cessation.
The point I’m trying to make here is that this type of feedback based learning is nearly impossible when working in isolation in the community pharmacy setting. I do wonder if, like the hospital setting, this support network is one of the very attractive features for pharmacists working in GP practices.
Protected learning time and peer review sessions like those enjoyed by doctors are therefore essential as our role as prescribing pharmacists evolves away from the traditional supply role. The thought of having an afternoon when I could regularly meet with other prescribing pharmacists and discuss our clinical decisions is really quite exciting. I am very grateful for the feedback and support I have received from my medical prescribing colleagues but I hope eventually I will be receiving this feedback from, and be trained by, pharmacists. In this way, I think we will retain the slightly different pharmacological emphasis to our practice that is not evident in other professions.
More than that, this pharmacological emphasis is the unique selling point the pharmacy profession. I think we should follow the RPS Scotland direction and fi rstly protect our professional learning time before, in turn, protecting the unique pharmacist skill set.
Johnathan Laird is a community pharmacist independent prescriber with a special interest in asthma. He is based in Turriff, Aberdeenshire.
Progress on prevention
There is a continued need for progress on prevention, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) in Scotland said recently, submitting written evidence to the Finance Committee of the Scottish Parliament.
RPS highlighted the need for more pharmaceutical care and pharmaceutical public health in line with the fi ndings from the Wilson and Barber review and outlined the opportunities for prevention within health and social care integration and the need to integrate pharmaceutical care into the new community health hubs with pharmaceutical care plans as working documents to tailor services to local needs.
RPS in Scotland was invited along with RCN, The Alliance and representatives from the justice, academia, think tanks and the third sector. Despite the variety of backgrounds around the table there were similar themes emerging around lack of sustainability with short-term funding being the norm, the need to have a clear vision of the intended goals, to increase collaborative working, and to have pragmatic indicators of progress along the way while not overly burdening practitioners on the ground with bureaucracy.
RPS in Scotland highlighted how it would be possible to improve outcomes including:
• “Safer use of medicines “agenda to reduce unplanned admissions to hospital and the need to have expertise of a pharmacist in the right place in the NHS system, wherever there are medicines and patients.
• Public health data from specialist public health pharmacists, which could support tailoring resources to places where local need is greatest.
• Implementing recommendations in RPS in Scotland’s manifesto “Right Medicine – Better Health – Fitter Future”, which outlines where there are gaps in the system which need the expertise of a pharmacist.
• Review of the minor ailments service to make community pharmacy fi rst port of call for everyone.
MSc in Advanced Clinical Pharmacy Practice
- New postgraduate course for 2016 - Non-medical prescribing option*
Our new part-time distance-learning programme is an amalgamation of our previous postgraduate courses and is open to pharmacists in all employment sectors.
Comprising a common core plus options, the flexible design will help you to progress in your current role or to achieve your career aspirations, whether in hospital pharmacy, community pharmacy or primary care/general practice.
Includes new leadership/management option linked to the RPS Advanced Pharmacy Framework.
PG Certificate/PG Diploma awards available. Non-medical prescribing requires participation in a 5-day residential at QUB*.
*Non-medical prescribing subject to GPhC accreditation For further information:
QUB School of Pharmacy:
www.qub.ac.uk/pha Tel: 028 9097 2004. E-mail:
b.mccaw@
qub.ac.uk Next intake will commence in September 2016 (Closing date: 30th June)
A Russell Group university: one of the UK’s leading research-intensive universities.
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