First Australian Practice Standard for Pharmacy Informatics now available
The first Australian Practice Standard for pharmacy informatics has been released by the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA), to support the implementation, adoption and maintenance of health information systems critical to ensuring the quality and safe use of medicines.
The Standard of practice in pharmacy informatics is now available through Early View of the Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research (JPPR), Australia’s leading scientific pharmacy journal.
Lead author Michael Bakker FANZCAP (Informtcs), Chair of the SHPA’s Pharmacy Informatics Standard of Practice Working Group and Electronic Medication Management Leadership Committee, and Digital Health Portfolio Lead for SA Pharmacy, says he is proud to lead the first standard in what is an increasingly important area of pharmacy practice to drive quality and improve patient health outcomes.
‘Pharmacy informatics stands out from other disciplines of informatics because of the ubiquitous nature of medicines in health care, the frequency with which other healthcare disciplines interact with medicines and the complex medico-legal elements related to medication management, including the provision and supply of medicines.
‘Successful healthcare delivery now and into the future is contingent on an ability to create systems and processes that assist clinicians by improving efficiencies, productivity, reliability, safety and quality.
‘Achieving this requires pharmacy informaticians who have detailed knowledge of whole healthcare system medication utilisation and a deep knowledge of digital health. These informaticians harness their creativity to solve issues in real time, always considering the “human factors” required for the health information system to operate efficiently.
‘The Standard also includes a maturity model to allow pharmacy informaticians to consider and progress their development.’
SHPA President Tom Simpson says pharmacy informatics is rapidly evolving in Australia and it takes an innovative team and extraordinary leadership to write the first standard.
‘I would like to acknowledge Michael and the incredible work of his team to bring this critical first standard to life.
‘This Standard also wouldn’t be possible without the support of our colleagues at the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA), Australasian Institute of Digital health (AIDH) and the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) and we thank them for their contribution as part of the review process.’
Michael will be presenting this Australian first standard at the upcoming Digital Health Festival in May.
The Standard of practice in pharmacy informatics is now available in Early View and will feature in the April issue of JPPR which is free – as always – for SHPA members.