PHARMACISTS are becoming increasingly concerned about the rise in aggressive behaviour of patients coming into their stores, Pharmaceutical Defence Limited (PDL) Professional Officer, Gary West, reports.
Speaking at the Australian Pharmacy Professional (APP) Conference online, on Sat, West, said it was "pretty clear that there's a lot of conflict out there" and complaints against pharmacists were on the rise, and have been exacerbated by concerns fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The pharmacy professional officers at PDL are aware of the increasing number of complaints and threats that pharmacists are receiving and obviously this has escalated significantly with the COVID crisis," he said.
"This kind of behaviour is occurring in community pharmacy and hospital pharmacies, and we believe you need to have strategies in place now to deal with these sorts of situations."
West urged pharmacists to take steps to de-escalate incidents, noting that "saying sorry isn't an admission of liability", but could help to defuse a situation.
He also encouraged pharmacists to focus on their own health and to get rest, saying that having a clear head could help deal with challenging patients.
During the presentation, West noted that PDL had also seen an increase in conflict between pharmacists and prescribers.
"If you have to have a difficult conversation with a prescriber make it about the wellbeing of the patient," he said.
"It's not about the prescriber, it's not about the prescribing per se it's about your concerns about the wellbeing of the patient and/or your legal obligations.
"And if you have these conversations with a prescriber about a patient [we would advise] that you document it."
West noted the Pharmacy Guild of Australia and PDL had last month jointly released an updated rights and responsibilities charter.
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