SUMMARY - Safe Medications Management project: Key issues and ...

There is no uniform identification and definition of the health practitioners’ roles relatingto their legislative responsibilities in who can prescribe, supply, dispense and administermedicines, poisons and drugs. There is also inconsistency in the definitions of themedication management stages.The use of the terminology relating to medicines, poisons and drugs appears variable in thetitles of the legislation and within the legislation.Efforts have been made to reference the Health Practitioner Regulation National Laws, butagain there is no consistency in this approach.2.2. Guidance documents2.2.1. Sources and types of documents reviewedDocuments were identified initially through internet searches, the use of Pub Med and a variety offollow-up contacts. The eventual range of document sources was:• Government – departments, statutory authorities, committees, commissioned reports -State/Territory, Australia, US & UK.• Professional organisations – nursing, medical, pharmacy, unions.• Industry organisations – aged care, pharmacy, General Practice, health – State/Territory,and Australia-wide.• Others – Provider organisations and Non Government Organisations (NGOs) such as elderadvocacy, consumer, particular interest and specific disease focus (e.g. Alzheimer)organisations.Interviews about aged care medication practice and workforce issues were also held with ProfTrisha Dunning, Chair in Nursing (Barwon Health) Deakin University, and Ms Belinda Moyes, CEOCountry Health South Australia and former Chair of the National Nursing and Nursing EducationTaskforce.While the resulting list of documents could easily be supplemented, the range and contentrepresents the most important documents, and a meaningful cross-section of the academicliterature in English.About sixty percent of the documents identified related specifically to medication managementprinciples and practice, the remainder relating to workforce, and broad professional practice andhealth worker education matters.2.2.2. Medication Management documents2.2.2.1. Government DocumentsDocuments from Australian and State/Territory governments comprised the largest group, apartfrom journal articles, found in the document search.Comprehensive guidance on Medication Management in aged care was found in the APAC(Australian Pharmaceutical Advisory Council) publications which address medication managementin residential aged care facilities and in the community, and continuity of medication18