Numerous reports[7,23,26,41,42] have demonstrated that the involvement of a pharmacist in providing medication
consultation can influence patients’ self-management of their medications. Reports have also shown that nurses were able to provide basic medication information, including the action of medications and common side effects, although the information provided was not as comprehensive as that provided by pharmacists.[30,31] This is because nursing staff, with specific reference to rural nursing staff, often supply and/or administer medications, raising the need for them LY294002 chemical structure to have pharmaco-therapeutic knowledge when monitoring patients’ response to medications to ensure patients’ safety.[30,31] It should be noted that the rural legislative provisions in Figure 1 and Table 2 improve timely access to medications and expand the range of healthcare providers involved in the medication pathway in
rural areas. While the increase in access addresses one aim of QUM, there is a sub-optimal level of assistance for rural consumers to manage their medications, particularly MG 132 when quality standards for dispensing are not applied and adequate and appropriate medication information is not provided. Reports have shown that rural sole pharmacists experience high workloads from dispensing and pharmacy management, impeding their involvement in medication consultations.[4,7,28,43,44] In addition, non-pharmacists involved in medication supply have
limited scope of practice in the provision of medication information and medication management.[4,31,36] Training packages developed to up-skill non-pharmacists in their medication knowledge have been limited due to the costs of time and travel, high turnover of rural staff and scarcity of rural pharmacists to train these healthcare providers.[4,33,36] This reiterates the need to provide medication support systems (ideally Dynein pharmacist-mediated) for both rural pharmacists and non-pharmacists to improve and optimise QUM in rural areas. Once issued, the medications are distributed to consumers or carers for storage at home, or to healthcare delivery areas within an aged-care facility or hospital.[2] The process of distribution and handling of medications in healthcare facilities is important, due to the potential involvement of several healthcare workers in the facility before the medication reaches the patient. Apart from specific provisions in the Regulation regarding healthcare providers authorised to obtain or possess medications with the higher levels of restrictions, and storage specifications surrounding Controlled Drugs,[5] the literature search did not identify any Australian studies specifically referring to ordering and distribution of medications in rural areas.