Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia Conference 2009: Across the Divide

Jackie is Senior Technician in the Aseptic suite at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre Melbourne where she has worked since 2007. Before joining Peter Mac Jackie worked as a Technical Aseptic Manager at Garnavel General Hospital in Glasgow UK. Jackie is at present the project officer for the cytocare robot being involved in the instillation, validation and operation of this new technology.
In 2008 Jackie successfully completed her Cert IV to qualify as a Trainer/Assessor and her Cert III Occupational Health and Safety and is also the Occupational health and safety representative for her work group.

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Deirdre has published in a number of journals and is involved in teaching psychopharmacology to postgraduate pharmacy students at UWA, and Curtin universities, masters clinical psychology students at Murdoch University and undergraduate medical students at Notre Dame University. She also conducts regular audits of prescribing at Alma Street Centre, and has been instrumental in the development of prescribing protocols for psychiatric medications at Fremantle Hospital.

Areas of special interest include quality use of medicines, adverse event reporting and the management of medication side effects, notably “metabolic syndrome” and extra-pyramidal side effects.

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Catherine is a ward technician based a Greenslopes Private Hospital, Brisbane. She studied NVQ level 2 & 3 in the UK and qualified in 2005, where she worked for five years in community pharmacy.

Since moving to Australia, Catherine commenced in hospital pharmacy. Initially working as a dispensary technician then progressing to ward technician, Catherine formed part of a working party to plan this service model. This involved a company restructure of ward based teams consisting of pharmacists and technicians. Catherine has also undertaken study to perform sterile compounding in oncology.

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Dr Simon Byrne (BA, MBBS, FRANZCP) completed his psychiatric Fellowship in Perth after studying medicine at the University of Western Australia. He has broad clinical experience, both public and private, and is very involved in psychiatric education. He has worked for fourteen years in Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital (a tertiary teaching hospital) including extensive experience in providing psychiatric assessment and care to medical and surgical patients and patients in the emergency department, and has acquired useful experience of the interface between psychiatry and general medicine. He is a contributor to the forthcoming Textbook of Adult Emergency Medicine 3rd edition (G. Jelinek et al, eds; Elsevier), including discussion of the psychiatric presentations of medical illness. He would like in this presentation to share understandings of the significance of mental symptoms.

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Dr Jo Coldron graduated from Glasgow University in 1999. She got a taste for more remote medical practice after an elective student placement in rural India, and a year’s stint as an RMO in Royal Darwin Hospital. After 3 years working in general and emergency medicine in the UK she spent 2 years working for the British Antarctic Survey, spending 17 continuous months on the Antarctic continent at a small research station. She is presently working as a GP in Perth, although is always planning the next trip to a far flung destination.

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Since graduating from Curtin University in 1990 Robert has worked in and operated community pharmacies in Western Australia.
In 2003, after gaining experience in intellectual property management, he was appointed to the role of Commercialisation Manager with the Environmental Biotechnology Co-operative Research Centre at Murdoch University. During this time Robert wrote the curriculum for the Master of Pharmacy at Murdoch.
In 2004 Robert undertook the position of CEO of the pharmaceutical operation PharmAust Manufacturing in Welshpool WA, where he was involved in the registration of therapeutic goods and the licensing of the manufacturing facility.
In 2005 Robert returned to Murdoch University to establish the Pharmacy program and accepted the role of inaugural Dean of School.

Robert is a member of the Department of Health and Ageing PPSAC R&D Steering Committee, delivers training in “Good Clinical Practice” courses and continues his interest in environmental issues seeking ways to introduce sustainability into pharmacy.

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Professor Everett worked as a pharmacist during the 70’s and at the same time completed Ph.D. studies in physiology/pharmacology at UWA. He then undertook 5 years of postdoctoral studies in the Department of Medicine, University of Chicago before being awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship to return to Australia in 1983 to continue as a full time researcher at the Neurobiology Research Centre, The University of Sydney. In 1992, he accepted an academic appointment in the Department of Physiology, University of Western Australia. In 2003 he reacquainted himself with Pharmacy education to direct the development of a new Master of Pharmacy programme at UWA. His long time research interest is in the area of neuroscience and specifically with the cellular processes that regulate transmission at synapses. In recent years he has been an advocate of cognitive services in the community pharmacy setting.

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Mr Shannon Farmer was instrumental in setting up Australia’s first comprehensive blood conservation program in 1990 at Fremantle Kaleeya Hospital where he held the appointment as Coordinator, Blood Conservation Program in Medicine and Surgery. Shannon was the inaugural Executive Secretary of the Australasian Association for Blood Conservation (AABC) and Board and Scientific Committee Member. He is General Secretary and Board Member of the international Medical Society for Blood Management (MSBM), and is a founding Member of the USA based Society for the Advancement for Blood Management (SABM). From 2003 to 2007 he was appointed to the SABM Education Committee and was a researcher and staff writer.

In 2007 he was invited to be a part of a core group of experts endorsed by two international medical societies and appointed to the scientific committee to design and plan the first International Consensus Conference on Transfusion and Outcomes (ICCTO). He conducted the preliminary literature review for its preparation.

Currently, Shannon works as a consultant in patient blood management and has appointments as Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Surgery within the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, UWA, and Bloodless Researcher, Englewood Hospital and Medical Centre, New Jersey, USA. He is also a member of the NHMRC/ANZSBT Clinical Practice Guidelines on the Use of Blood Components Review Expert Working Group. He is on the Implementation Board of the WA Patient Blood Management Program.

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Vanessa Hollingsworth is the Senior Pharmacy Technician at St John of God Hospital Subiaco, Western Australia. Vanessa has developed this senior management role over the last 7 years as both the Hospital and Pharmacy have developed new services and expanded existing services. Vanessa also has previous pharmacy experience in both the public hospital sector and community setting.

Vanessa completed Certificate 3 and 4 Medical Technicians and Assistants (Hospital Pharmacy) in 2001/2002, and Certificate 4 in Business (Frontline Management) in 2006. She was the Pharmacy Technician representative on the WA SHPA State Branch committee from 2004 to 2006.

Vanessa has a keen interest in improving the skills of technicians and is actively involved in developing training sessions to achieve this outcome. Technicians play an essential role within the Pharmacy Department and continuing development of an exceptional support service will optimise opportunities for involvement in new service areas.

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Professor Jeff Hughes BPharm, Grad Dip Pharm, MPharm, PhD, MPS, AACPA
Head of the School of Pharmacy, Curtin University of Technology

Jeff is recognized as a leader in clinical pharmacy education and practice in Australia. Jeff was the recipient of the 1998 Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia’s Glaxo Medal of Merit and 2001 received SPHA’s Clinical Pharmacy award. Further, in 2004 his efforts in the areas of clinical pharmacy education and pharmacy research were acknowledged when he was named the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia’s Pharmacist of the Year. In 2008, Jeff was the recipient of the Eric Kirk Memorial Award presented for his contribution to the Pharmacy profession in Western Australia. Jeff is a community pharmacy proprietor and a practising accredited pharmacist.

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James has had a wide range of research interests, particularly in transfusion medicine and patient blood management. He was involved in establishing the apheresis unit in a general hospital in Australia, with a particular interest in therapeutic plasma exchange, and was on the team that did the first allogeneic bone marrow transplant in Australia. Prof Isbister is Chair of the Advisory Committee and Board Member of the Australian Red Cross Blood Service. His contributes have been acknowledged by his peers by life membership of professional societies and named orations. In recognition of his international contributions to patient blood management and quality & safety in transfusion medicine he was the recipient of the 2008 President’s Award of the Society for the Advancement of Blood Management.

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Dr Alexander John is currently working as Consultant Psychiatrist at John Milne Centre (an in-patient psychiatric treatment and rehabilitation service) and Community Support and Rehabilitation Service, Bentley Mental Health Service, Western Australia. He completed basic medical training (MBBS) and psychiatric training from India and was awarded MD Degree in psychiatry in 1986. Dr John was awarded FRANZCP degree by the Royal College of Psychiatrists of Australia and New Zealand in 2003. He worked as Additional Professor of Psychiatry from 1989 - 1999 at the university hospital of Kasturba Medical College, Manipal., India. He has been working as Consultant Psychiatrist in Australia since 1999. He has 20 peer reviewed scientific publications. Dr John’s areas of current research interest are metabolic syndrome in patients with severe mental illness and psychiatric rehabilitation.

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Born in the south west of Ireland, Danny qualified as a mental health nurse in the United Kingdom in 1983. Following registration, he specialised in the addictions field and has held a variety of clinical and managerial roles in government and non government substance misuse services in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia.

From 1983 to 1991, Danny worked primarily in a clinical specialist role in inner city London and in Plymouth in the South West of England. In that time he gained extensive experience and knowledge working with clients on pharmacotherapy programmes, including case managing clients on injectable heroin programme.

Since 1991, Danny has worked in the management and strategic operational arena. His management responsibility includes roles as Manager, Director and Chief Executive Officer of a variety of residential, prison and community based substance misuse services.

For the last 5 years, Danny has been responsible for the implementation and ongoing development of the Western Australian Prison Pharmacotherapy Programme.

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Hilary Le Page Mb ChB MRCPsyche,FRCP (C)
Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist

Hilary arrived in Western Australia in 2000 and worked in area of designated need positions in community mental health including rural consultation until 2009. She had trained in psychiatry in UK and Canada having become interested in psychiatry whilst a senior house officer in Barbados. Prior to coming to WA she worked in Nova Scotia, Canada for 20 years in hospital, community and private practice settings. Her interests included the diagnosis and management of young people with early psychoses with ever increasing awareness of the profound impact that both illness and medication side effects had on adolescent development and self esteem. Reviewing her practice prior to resignation she began to give even more thought to possible barriers to medication compliance/ adherence in the children and adolescents (up to 18 years of age) she treated.

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Dr Ken Maguire is a Consultant Physician in Rheumatic Diseases and Sports Medicine. He works at the Perth Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Centre. He is involved in teaching at the University of W.A., Curtin University, Notre Dame University and Murdoch University. He was the inaugural Medical Co-ordinator at the Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra and Censor-in-Chief of the Australasian College of Sports Physicians. Under-Graduate and Post-Graduate training was undertaken in Australia, New Zealand, U.S.A. and England. Present research activities are in association with the Department of Human Movement and Exercise Science at the University of W.A. Recent Sporting attachments have been with the Western Australian Institute of Sport, Perth Glory Football Club and the Fitness Institute of W.A.

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Dr Kevin Murray
Paediatric Rheumatologist, Princess Margaret Hospital for Children

Dr Kevin Murray is a paediatric rheumatologist based at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in Perth WA. He has been involved in a transition rheumatology clinic for adolescents and young adults at a major adult teaching hospital Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital for the last two years. Dr Murray’s practice has been heavily influenced by the introduction of biological disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs in the last decade, and the centre is involved in a number of international multicentre controlled trials regarding their use in children.

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Geak Chin Ng is a B.Pharm (Honours) graduate from Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang and worked in various Malaysian public hospitals for 11 years before immigrating to Australia at the end of 1989. She became a registered pharmacist in Australia in 1991 and obtained her Postgraduate degree in Hospital Pharmacy from Curtin University in 1996.

Geak Chin is the Chief Pharmacist of the Pharmacy Department of the Department of Corrective Services, WA and has been with the department since 1992. She and her team of 6 pharmacists and 8 technicians are responsible for providing pharmaceutical services to about 3300 adult and 140 juvenile inmates, of which 50-60% would be on medications, located in 14 public prisons all over WA.
Geak Chin is very committed and involved with medication safety issues and this has led to the implementation of many initiatives to minimise medication error and ensure evidence based best practice.

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In AUSPMAN He has been involved in the production of sterile ampoules for injection, creams, ointments, oral solutions and suspensions, dental gels and lozenges. This involves learning specialized skills not often seen in hospital pharmacies.

He also has a keen interest in photography and outdoor pursuits and is the proud father of 2 precious boys.

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Dr Phillip Passmore
Director, P.S.M International Pty Ltd, Co-Owner, PT PSM International”
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Curtin University School of Pharmacy, WA

Phillip Passmore graduated in pharmacy from WAIT and registered in early 1970. He holds Bachelor of Science degree from the University of WA, a Masters in Epidemiology and Health Planning from the University of Wales and a PhD from Curtin University of Technology. He is a Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of Western Australia and an adjunct senior lecturer at Curtin University School of Pharmacy.
He was a partner in a Community Pharmacy from 1973 until 2007.

Phillip went to Thailand to assist in the refugee crisis in late 1979. Over the years he has been involved with WHO, AusAID and NGO’s in many programs to strengthen the quality of pharmaceutical services in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Sudan, Thailand and Vietnam. Part of the work in Indonesia, Thailand and Sudan followed conflict, terrorist attacks or natural disasters.
He is currently working in Indonesia.

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Etza has been working in the alcohol and drug field since 1985 and has been at SCGH for 10 years. This position encompasses the assessment of patients presenting with issues relating to alcohol and other drugs.
Currently, the service assesses an average of 25 patients daily. The predominant problematic drug remains alcohol but there has been an increase in opiate presentations since October 2007. Heroin has returned to the streets in Perth, WA in the past 6 months with an overdose presentation every 2-3 days.
This service also refers patients to appropriate community settings prior to discharge from hospital.

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After graduating from the School of Pharmacy, Curtin University, Corina Pesich relocated to the UK for a period of 12years. During this time, Corina travelled extensively to many exotic (and not-so-exotic!) worldwide destinations - her professional experiences were variable and diverse, and involved working in both the Community & Hospital Pharmacy sectors, as well working in various Primary Healthcare Settings as a Prescribing Support Pharmacist and member of a multi-disciplinary healthcare rehabilitation team. Upon returning back to Australia, Corina commenced employment in 2006 as a Pharmacy Academic with a University Dept of Rural Health, affiliated with the Combined Universities Centre for Rural Health, Geraldton - the position is based in Broome with the Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services Council Inc (KAMSC Inc) which serves as a health resource body for a group of independent Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia. Her current role based with KAMSC Inc involves engaging in many rewarding and challenging roles & responsibilities including:

• education and training ( Aboriginal Health Workers and Medication Assistants)
• mentoring and support to Pharmacy students on rural placements
• pharmacy S100 service provision to remote Aboriginal Health Services
• development /review of QUM policies, procedures and resources at a local, regional and national level

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Robbo is a pharmacist with over 20 years experience in many facets of pharmacy. Originally from Victoria he was been working and living in rural and remote areas of Australia for ten years. The last five years he has been living and working in one of the remote parts of Australia with the Ngaanyatjarra Aboriginal Health Service. His role is unique in Australia. Recently he has been successful in obtaining funding from the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health (OATSIH) to fund a second pharmacist position. This is the first time OATSIH has recognised the role of a pharmacist within an Aboriginal Health Service.

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Vicki Sheedy is the NACCHO National Manager of the Quality Use of Medicines Maximised for Aboriginal Peoples (QUMAX) Program.
She was responsible for the implementation and management of the program within the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service sector including the design and development of an online communication and information management system to facilitate networking, and collaboration amongst ACCHS Staff, State Affiliates and QUM Pharmacists involved in the project.

She came to NACCHO with extensive experience in the field of Medical Education, with specific expertise in distance education and the design of information and communication systems to support those processes. She has worked in the development and management of medical education programs since 1990. - including the role of the National Manager of Education and Training for Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM),
She was awarded Honorary Life Membership of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine( 1998) and the Medal of Service to the Rural Doctors Association of Queensland for ‘outstanding contribution to medical education’( 2001)
In 2009 she was awarded the Dr Louis Ariotti Memorial Award for Excellence and Innovation in Rural Health.

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Heather has worked at the Princess Margaret Hospital for the past nineteen years, first as an Assistant then as a Technician and has held her current position since 1994.
Heather qualified as a Pharmacy Technician in the UK in 1978 and holds the City and Guilds Dispensing Technicians Certificate which is recognised in Australia. She worked in retail pharmacies including Boots the Chemist and two public hospitals in the UK before moving to Perth in 1990.

Heather has always been interested in the development and education of Pharmacy Technicians and was one of the founding members of the Pharmaceutical Technicians and Assistants Association and was President of the association in 2001.
Heather is an active Technician member of the SHPA and has attended several conferences both as a delegate and presenter.
Heather is currently the Chair Person of the Pharmacy Technicians Forum which is preparing a case for the reclassification of all hospital Pharmacy Technicians in Western Australia.

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Dr Gordon Shymko is the Clinical Director of Peel and Rockingham Kwinana Mental Health Service (PaRK MHS) and Consultant Psychiatrist for the PaRK MHS Early Episode Psychosis Program. He has worked in Western Australia since 1998 and has maintained a strong focus on community psychiatry and targeted intervention programs for mental illness including psychotic disorders. Gordon has great interest in identifying interventions that facilitate successful recovery from mental illness as well as the potential barriers to recovery including poor physical health and has been involved in the development and implementation of specific guidelines for physical health monitoring for patients of the PaRK MHS.

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Leanne Stafford BPharm(Hons)(Curtin) MPS MSHP
PhD Candidate

After graduating from Curtin University of Technology with First Class Honours in 1997, Leanne completed her pre-registration training at Fremantle Hospital and Health Service, Western Australia, as the 1998 Pharmacy Trainee of the Year. She continued to practice there as a pharmacist until a three year sojourn in the UK between 2001 and 2003. In 2004, she returned to Western Australia to assume two part-time roles- as a Lecturer in Pharmacotherapy the School of Pharmacy at Curtin University, and a Clinical Pharmacist in cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery at Fremantle Hospital. Leanne relocated to Hobart in July 2008 to enroll in a PhD programme in the School of Pharmacy. Her areas of interest include the provision of the quality medication-related services at the continuum of care and pharmacy education, and her PhD thesis is entitled “The role of community pharmacy in post hospital management of patients initiated on warfarin”.

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Soo Choon Tan is an Associate Professor at the Doping Control Centre, University
Science Malaysia. He is also part of the teaching staff at the School of Pharmacy at the same university. He graduated with a B.Pharm in 1981 and with an M.Sc, in 1984 from the School of Pharmacy at the University of Science, and with a Ph.D. from King’s College London. On completion of his Ph.D, he was invited to assist in the setting up of the Doping Control Centre at the University of Science and successfully assisted the Centre to obtain the IOC accreditation. After the Commonwealth Games, he moved on to set up the Veterinary Forensic Laboratory which is responsible for doping control for the Malaysian Turf Clubs. His research interests include instrumental drug analysis, chiral drug disposition and immunochemistry.

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Dr Simon Towler has a broad range of experience in critical care medicine, including bloodless management of medical and surgical patients. Simon has a passion for health reform to meet the ever-increasing demands faced by our health system and is an enthusiastic advocate for multidisciplinary models of patient care. He was appointed to the position of Chief Medical Officer for Western Australia in 2005. His key responsibilities include establishment of Health Networks linked to development of strategic health policy and health services planning across Western Australia, the WA Patient Blood Management Project 2008-2011, Research Translation projects, Reproductive Technology legislation, the Medical Technology Strategy and Advanced Health Care Planning legislation and projects. Simon continues to practice part-time as a Staff Specialist in Intensive Care at Royal Perth Hospital, St John of God Hospital Subiaco and the Mount Hospital.

Simon is an active member of the Australian Medical Association, the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society, the Australasian Association for Blood Conservation and the Medical Blood Management Society. He is a past president of the AMA (WA Branch) and serves on the WA AMA Council and Finance Committee and the National Health and Medical Research Council. In January 2009, Simon (with James Isbister, Shannon Farmer and other international patient blood management specialists) was invited to address the FDA about recent transfusion outcomes literature and patient blood management.

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