Pharmacy
Services We Offer
Purchase, Storage and Distribution of Pharmaceuticals
Drugs are purchased in accordance with various Tenders with the objectives of ensuring continuity of supply to wards and departments, and regular turnover of items within the store and with due regard to the cost of inventory holdings. Goods are distributed from the store by Pharmacy support staff through the imprest system, or via requisition. The store is controlled on a day to day basis by the Stores Officer who is also responsible for maintenance of the ASCribe Pharmacy computer system and the training of all Pharmacy support staff assigned to the store.
The ASCribe Pharmacy computer system is an inventory stock control, and patient dispensing system and charges to wards and departments on a cost centre basis. The ASCribe system interfaces with other hospital systems such as TOPAS and CloverLeaf.
Clinical Pharmacy Services
The clinical pharmacy service is staffed by a Senior Pharmacist in Charge and a team of clinical Pharmacists. In addition to a clinical load, the Senior Pharmacist in Charge is responsible for organising and supervising ward services, staff training, coordinating drug utilisation reviews, planning and resolving any problems relating to ward services.
Functions
The functions of the clinical pharmacists are as follows:
- Drug supply - The pharmacist is responsible for coordinating the supply of drugs from the pharmacy to the wards. This includes overseeing the imprest supply, amending stock levels, dispensing individual non-imprest inpatient drugs and delivery and checking of Schedule 8 drugs, including compliance with legislation requirements.
- Drug information - The clinical pharmacist is responsible for providing drug information at ward level, providing immediate answers (where possible) to specific requests from medical and nursing staff. Requests outside of the above are referred to the Drug Information Centre for processing.
- Patient Drug Monitoring. The medication charts of all inpatients are reviewed regularly. The purpose of the review is to ensure that drug orders are appropriate, safe and unambiguous with respect to indication, dosage, frequency and duration of administration. The chart is endorsed with generic names etc. where appropriate and when a problem is detected in a drug order, this is clarified with the prescriber.
- Besides review of the medication chart, it is also frequently necessary to refer to the patient's medical record and/or interview the patient to determine drug allergies, drug history, relevant laboratory data, (eg. drug levels) and the proposed plan of management. The pharmacist also obtains daily laboratory biochemistry results and liaises with medical staff with respect to dosage adjustments and/or further monitoring with a view to improving the therapeutic efficacy of the drug or reducing toxicity.
- Clinical and ward meetings. Pharmacists may be involved in clinical meetings where current and future management of the patient is involved, attend ward rounds at the request of the consultant and participate in other meetings, which relate to patient care or pharmaceutical matters. The department has input into Clinical Service Units (CSU) particularly in relation to how drug costs may be controlled.
- Drug Utilisation Reviews. These are undertaken to assess the quantity or appropriateness of drug use within the hospital. They are carried out at the request of the Drug & Therapeutics Committee or as a Pharmacy Department initiative.
- Patient Counselling. Whilst resources do not permit counselling to every patient, the pharmacist counsels those patients for whom a request for counselling is made or for priority areas such as anticoagulant therapy.
Inpatient Pharmacy Services
The main pharmacy provides a dispensing service for discharge patients and weekend leave, along with urgent inpatient drugs. Returned stock from wards/clinics is also processed in this section along with maintenance of resuscitation boxes for emergency trolleys.
Outpatient Pharmacy Services
The Outpatient Pharmacy service is staffed by a Senior Pharmacist in Charge, supported by a base grade pharmacist and pharmacy assistant, although the balance between these staff may depend on outpatient workload, workload in other areas and staff on leave. Another pharmacist is employed to assist with clinical trials.
The core function of the service is to dispense outpatient prescriptions in accordance with current hospital policy. There have been increasing demands on the section in recent years, despite little apparent increase in workload statistics. These demands relate to pharmacy staff involvement in dealing with the requirements of the Safety Net Scheme of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, along with the significant administrative procedures now necessary to conform with Section 100 dispensing.
The department is also involved in excess of 100 clinical trials. These require significant recording of drugs, randomisation of patients, counting of returned drugs for compliance, and the labelling and dispensing of the drugs to the patient. The department raises charges against sponsors for this service and currently employs a pharmacist to cater for this workload.
Drug Information Service
Pharmacists at the Centre answer approximately 2800 enquiries each year about therapeutic drug use. Common enquiry types include questions about adverse effects and drug interactions as well as information about newly marketed drugs and drugs available overseas.
Those staffing the service have considerable clinical experience as well as access to resources such as the major medical databases (eg. Medline, the Micromedex HealthCare Series and the Iowa Drug Information Service) and an extensive in-house library of textbooks, journals and other printed reference material.
This service is designated as the State Drug Information Centre for Western Australia. It is also one of a consortium of six sites around Australia which operate the NPS Therapeutic Advice and Information Service (NPS TAIS), which provides information for community based health practitioners, predominantly general practitioners and community pharmacists.
Aseptic Dispensing
The aseptic dispensing area incorporates intravenous admixtures, cytotoxic reconstitution and total parenteral nutrition preparations. There is a level of competence and validation required before staff are permitted to work in the area and hence there is a significant training component for new staff. Because the area has a high throughput of oncology/haematology patients as well as having considerable demands placed on it by the Intensive Care Unit, it is an extremely busy area and operates 7 days a week.
Department Contact Details
Pharmacy Department - Inpatients
A Block, Ground Floor
Phone: 61 8 9346 2334
Fax: 61 8 9346 3320
Pharmacy Department - Outpatients
E Block, Ground Floor
Phone: 61 8 9346 2335
Fax: 61 8 9346 3320
Pharmacy Department - All Other enquiries
Phone: 61 8 9346 2334
Physical Location
The Pharmacy Outpatients Department is located on the Ground Floor of E Block, in close proximity to the hospital Outpatient Clinics.
All other operations of the Pharmacy Department are located and managed from A Block Ground Floor.
About Us
Department Services
The Department provides a comprehensive pharmaceutical service to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. The functions of the Department include:
- Purchase, storage and distribution of pharmaceuticals
- Clinical pharmacy services to all inpatients
- Inpatient and Outpatient Pharmacy Dispensing Services
- Aseptic dispensing, including intravenous admixture, parenteral nutrition and oncology reconstitution services
- Provision, on a state-wide basis, of a drug information service
- Participation in clinical trials, research and education.
General Structure
The Pharmacy Department is coordinated by the Head of Department with the assistance of the Deputy Head of Department who is also responsible for clinical trial administration and Special Access Scheme drugs. All major sections of the department have a Senior Pharmacist in Charge. The department overall has a staff of 37 full time equivalents.
Employment
The pharmacy employs pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, pharmacy assistants, storepersons, a secretary and a clerk typist.
Permanent positions are advertised in the West Australian newspaper on Saturdays in the Health sector.
Temporary or part time work is also available and the Head of Department should be contacted in the first instance to discuss opportunities. Refer contact details below:
Contact Details
Ms. Jennifer Benzie, Head of Department
Phone: 61 8 9346 2334
Fax: 61 8 9346 3320
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