Don't overcook HMRs

Pharmacy academic, Professor Charlie Benrimoj, has criticised the home medicines review accreditation process as a barrier to participation.

"At the moment the system is set up to decrease participation. These barriers are very subtle, like an education weekend that is so highfalutin and complex that normal people who are inclined to accredit go to these things and get scared," Prof Benrimoj said.

"The [accreditation] process sends messages that only the elite can do HMRs; therefore, there is no direct encouragement for 'normal' pharmacists to get themselves up to speed to provide HMRs," he told Pharmacy News.

However, chair of the Australian Association of Consultant Pharmacy (AACP) which oversees the accreditation process, Dr Shane Jackson, believes the accreditation standards are pitched about right.

"We'd like to see a lot more accredited pharmacists - there's no doubt about that. But we need to make sure that the people doing medication reviews are appropriately trained and qualified to do them. If that means we don't get as many pharmacists as we'd like as quickly as we'd like, then we'll have to, for want of a better word, cope with that."

Prof Benrimoj thinks HMRs have become too specialist.

"HMRs should be part of normal practice for every single pharmacist in Australia. It's not a specialised service...it is a generalist service that will become the foundation for practice in the future."

However, money is a more significant disincentive for pharmacy to embrace HMRs, Dr Jackson said.

"I can categorically say that if remuneration was increased to $220 per HMR, you would see a massive increase in their delivery," he said.

28-Feb-2008