Focus on chronic illness
October 7, 2014
A CALL for pharmacy to reorient
in order to successfully manage the
complexity of people living with
multiple chronic health conditions
has been issued.
Writing in Australian Pharmacist,
University of SA School of
Pharmacy and Medical Sciences
Professor Libby Roughead said one
in three Australians were living with
three or more chronic conditions,
compared with one in 10 in the 80s.
“Up to two-thirds of older people
are now taking five or more
medicines, and more than 20% are
taking 10 or more.
“This creates challenges for both
patients and health practitioners to
manage medicines, and obtain and
maintain safe and effective use.”
Pharmacy needed to reorient
in order to meet the challenge
of patients with chronic multiple
illnesses, she said, with services
needing to expand to include
medication reconciliation,
adherence services and
multidisciplinary, agreed, care
planning.
Pharmaceutical Society of
Australian (PSA) national president
Grant Kardachi said Roughead was
looking to a greater emphasis in
multiple chronic conditions which
were more likely to occur in the
ageing population and therefore
need more targeted approaches,
and adaptation of some existing
services.
A good initial approach was the
PSA Health Destination Pharmacy,
he said.
NPS MedicineWise Phone Line
Services manager Sarah Spagnardi
said health care and medicine use
was becoming more complex.
Healthcare professionals needed
to think broadly about an individual
and all their conditions when
looking at multiple medications and
illnesses, being aware of factors
such as medicine-disease state
interactions also, she said.
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