The AJP Podcast

Is AI likely to result in a dystopian future for health professionals and patients – or could it be used to free up more hours in the day for pharmacists to do their jobs? AJP Podcast host Carlene McMaugh sits down with Michael Bakker, chief pharmacy information officer for SA Pharmacy, about the barriers to digital transformation for pharmacists, overcoming resistance to change, and what the future might look like. The pair discuss common misconceptions about AI – including that it could replace key health workers such as pharmacists. “We're not talking about robo pharmacists, right?” says Bakker. “There's tasks and processes that will be impacted by the advent of AI, but they could also happen with non-AI things. “If we took one task and process just to kind of put it under the microscope, a hospital pharmacy service spends probably about a third of their clinical workforce time on performing medication histories. “And so you could go, ‘well, there's many different ways that digitally, we could do that a lot better now if we just had better linked data or atomic data around medicines where it’s easy to go, oh, this person’s on perindopril five milligrams once a day, and it's easy to convert that over to your hospital system. “And you can see the dispensing record for the patient, and if we had all of the dispensing records and prescribing records going up to My Health Record, it's pretty easy to conceptualise a way where you go, ‘well, I can see that they're on that regularly. I'm just going to convert that to their hospital medicine and just continue that there'. “That could be done without any AI. “The technology is not the barrier there. It's the investment and the prioritisation of that development work that needs to be there and having the high quality data sitting in my health record to be able to reutilise it. “They might sound like big things, but they're quite small. It's not like we're waiting for some technology to come along that doesn't exist yet. “The AI ones that I think scare people is around the decision making and to be able to decide what to do, and the door's starting to open there as to what that future state might look like to my network.” Bakker told McMaugh he had recently posted to LinkedIn about the United States having opened the policy door to having AI agents being able to prescribe for patients. “It's just a very interesting concept that it's not an automated thing that they can do this, they need to undergo all of their approvals through the FDA.” While he is not aware of this happening in practice, Bakker says it poses the question: what would this look like? “Is that going to be an AI agent is taking an action on behalf of say a prescriber when they're talking to their patient. So they're saying, ‘I'm going to give you amoxicillin 500mg four times a day' and then it's just going to generate the prescription. “And so that's kind of minimally invasive and risky. You have to prove quality and things like that so that it's not going to mistake the drug name or anything; or is it going to be far more dystopian where it's going to diagnose and take action to prescribe a recommended therapy for a patient, which is a little bit more scary? “So not everything is a one or a zero or a yes and a no. “There's lots of gradients in between in there, and so I think people get very alarmed and rightfully so as to what the really crazy dystopian future might look like and what's my role going to be in that if these things come about. “But there's a lot of work in between where we can just see the chipping away at tasks and processes through better technology, that are things that take an enormous amount of time, as good as the pharmacy workforce is at doing these types of things thoroughly… “If we were reviewing information that was presented to us that was kind of curated so that we don't have to go and do a preliminary history for a patient, then go into the patient room and validate it with them, then come out, reconcile it with what they're actually on and then get it changed, we can walk straight in going, ‘well, I can see what you're normally taking, but can you help me understand how you're actually using these on a day to day?' “You could be saving an hour a day for a clinical pharmacist that can be redirected into other tasks.” Highlights include: 00:56 – “Digital maturity can mean lots of things.” 02:24 – Getting started 03:27 – Barriers to digital transformation 06:44 – Insights from developing the Australian practice standard for pharmacy informatics 10:03 – How is AI currently being used to manage medicine safety, especially in rural or remote areas? 13:43 – No robo pharmacists 19:22 – How can pharmacists who are not tech experts start to build their digital literacy and become effective champions for changing their workplaces? 22:23 – Retaining the human touch 25:44 – Encouraging buy-in, including from pharmacists who have concerns 28:20 – “Soft skills are crucial.” 29:51 – Using AI to build a strong business case for new initiatives 32:56 – The most exciting emerging AI and digital trends 34:53 – As pharmacy workflows become more digitalised, what new types of dispensing and prescribing errors are we seeing and how can we mitigate them? 37:51 – “Get great at pharmacy first at all areas of pharmacy.” 39:27 – How could pharmacy look in 10 to 15 years? 41:46 – Learning from other sectors You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription. ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify  Carlene McMaugh

FIP president pays tribute to Australia's pharmacy practice model, as international jurisdictions champion pharmacist scope Paul Sinclair, the first Australian president of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) sat down with AJP Podcast host Carlene McMaugh to talk about the pharmacy workforce, challenges like antimicrobial resistance and how best to use AI in health care. There are many positives boosting the sector right now, Sinclair said, including how the pandemic improved pharmacy's visibility and moves towards full scope of practice. When McMaugh asked Sinclair whether he saw elements of the Australian model – such as expanded scope under the Community Pharmacy Agreement – being eyed by other countries, he replied, “Absolutely”. “As recently as two months ago, the Irish government signed a pharmacy agreement with the Irish Pharmacy Union on behalf of Irish pharmacy to give certainty of remuneration for dispensing and provision of professional services,” Sinclair said. “That very much is in line with the community pharmacy agreements that we have had so successfully implemented here in Australia. “In fact, the PBS, as it operates in Australia, is regarded as the best model for a public private partnership to provide pharmaceutical benefits to the population. “We see across the globe, services such as medication reviews, medication management services, webster packing, pharmacist delivered vaccination, and minor ailment schemes being delivered and funded through community pharmacy. “This is now happening through all of the major developed pharmacy marketplaces, and we are seeing also in FIP's role, the advocacy of an increased role for pharmacists in emerging pharmacy markets as well in low to middle income countries.” Sinclair said that Australia is “very fortunate” to have a public-private partnership with the government, instead of a fully managed healthcare system as seen in the USA. There, he said, “the payer, normally an insurance company, is focused only on cost rather than health outcomes”. “So the model we have is acknowledged as being world-class, and we are seeing across particularly developed marketplaces where the payer tends to be the government rather than insurance company, models like the community pharmacy agreement being advocated for and being implemented.” Highlights include: 01:03 – “At the moment, the depressing issue is certainly workforce shortages.” 03:43 – The positive outcomes of Covid 05:15 – AMR: a major issue 07:33 – The beauty of the Australian pharmacy practice model 09:20 – FIP's Global Observatory data 11:26 – “AI is the two letters on everyone’s lips at the moment.” 13:31 – “FIP’s work is centred on creating positive practise environments, safe staffing, fair scheduling, career development, recognition, including mental health support, anti-harassment policies, and psychologically safe spaces.” 15:36 – Integrating pharmacy into diverse global settings 17:08 – Barriers to scope: “It is definitely legislative.” 18:43 – Equity in medicines access and digital health 23:36 – Financial recognition for professional services 25:10 – “The total reliance on the supply model will not sustain our industry going forward.” 31:03 – Advice for young pharmacists 33:11 – FIP's development goals 34:37 – Hopes for FIP achievement in 2026 37:42 – A legacy for FIP 39:23 – A look back at a “huge” 2025 42:15 – War, conflict and pharmacy – as well as scope and recognition 44:15 – A thank you to pharmacists You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription. ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify  Carlene McMaugh

Almost every HMR can make a difference, says consultant pharmacist of the year Angus Thompson The AJP Podcast's Carlene McMaugh sits down with award-winning consultant pharmacist Angus Thompson, who tells her about how he builds rapport with his patients and helps them get the most out of their consultation. “We are not there to interfere and make changes for changes’ sake,” he explains. “We're there to help them get the best outcome. I will invariably ask the patient what do they want to get out of the consultation and what's important to them because I try to keep everything about the patient and align with their priorities and preferences. “Some patients may say, ‘I want to take less medicines', some people may say, ‘I don't know what I'm doing. I feel confused'. “So you try and tailor what you do, what you say to reassure them.” And health literacy is a “huge challenge” for many patients, he says – and tells a tale of one man who had Type 2 diabetes. “He'd misunderstood instructions from everybody else he'd ever seen,” Thompson says. “He saw pretty much everybody that a person with diabetes will see: an educator, obviously GP, community pharmacy, dietitian… “He said something about his insulin. I said, ‘just talk me through how you use your insulin'. “And he was using one pen for one injection. He was on 10 units of glargine, giving himself 10 units and then throwing away the remaining 290 units. “And this was simply because somebody had said to him, use a new needle for each injection. “To him, a new needle was a new pen. So he was visiting his pharmacy every 25 days and costing Medicare over $4,000 a year more than was necessary. “It is just the way people understand what we say. It’s really important that we check back that they have understood it in the way we want them to.” Highlights include: 02:22 – Building rapport with patients 05:55 – “Different strategies for different patients.” 07:26 – The impact of HMRs – and the man with Type 2 diabetes 09:05 – A patient Thompson had just helped reassure about her medicines 11:13 – Involving the patient in their own decision-making 14:38 – Misconceptions about HMRs 15:42 – “Very rarely are people taking what we think they're taking.” 17:29 – When patients are reluctant to change 21:49 – HMRs and vulnerable patients 25:14 – Keeping up-to-date 32:07 – Why the cap needs to go 34:32 – New technologies 38:28 – “Transitions of care are such a flashpoint for medication misadventure.” 40:31 – The HMR workforce You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription. ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify  Carlene McMaugh

Community pharmacist and owner of MedWest Medical Dispensary, Keegan Wong, says his passion lies in merging evidence-based medicine with a holistic model of health. Speaking to host Carlene McMaugh of the AJP Podcast, Wong shared his journey to co-founding MedWest Medical Dispensary in Western Australia, and his his practice and perspective has evolved.  “Back when I was working in community pharmacy, I was starting to see more and more patients coming in with prescriptions for medicinal cannabis,” he said. “You think ‘Oh, I haven’t really learned much of this at uni’. “The feedback that I’ve received over time was really eye-opening,” he continued. “People were dealing with chronic pain, sleep issues and anxiety… many of them actually find real relief.” Other highlights include:  4.39: Keegan’s holistic approach.  7.07: The supply challenges in Western Australia.  9.20: Common misconceptions about medicinal cannabis.  16.49: Regulatory concerns and how pharmacists are managing them.  You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription. ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify  Carlene McMaugh

Professional Services Innovation Award winners Bev Mistry-Cable and Zineb Medrek share the secrets of their success with the AJP Podcast – and what’s next “I think everybody’s got a slightly different passion, so it’s trying to work out what drives the pharmacies,” Cooleman Court Pharmacy’s Bev Mistry-Cable told the AJP Podcast’s Carlene McMaugh.  The winners of the Professional Services Innovation Award say they have developed a host of programs for different pharmacies to help their local communities.  “My colleague, Brad, implemented Men’s Health Down Under, and he basically helps men with post-prostectomy surgery and also things with erectile dysfunction, things like that,” Mistry-Cable said.    “We also do vaccination services here very well. So they’ve grown in the last five to 10 years, which has been good to see.” Medrek added: “Everyone that comes through the pharmacy, we check with them where they’re up to.” Other highlights include:  4.03: Cooleman Court Pharmacy’s skincare trial.  5.05: Travel health and UTI consultations.  7.53: The promotion of new services.  11.41: Other considerations in implementing new services into the pharmacy.  13.17: How to measure the value of pharmacies in the healthcare ecosystem.  You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription. ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify  Carlene McMaugh

AJP Podcast host Carlene McMaugh takes a look back at 2025 with AdPha president Tom Simpson and outgoing vice president Dr Kate O'Hara Speaking during Advanced Pharmacy Australia's Medicines Management 2025 conference in Melbourne, the three spoke about how residencies can help pharmacists keep getting feedback through their early careers, medicines reconciliation and points of transition, as well as the greater role pharmacists and pharmacy technicians can play in the healthcare system. Simpson explained that “transitions of care is not a problem we have solved in Australia by any measure”. “We did some great work obviously this year partnering with the condition on the practise standards around transitions of care, but we’re also looking at how we expand those collaborative prescribing models at the point of discharge,” he said. “We know discharge summaries and discharge medication lists have a high rate of inaccuracy and there’s hospitals that are already implementing collaborative prescribing models at that point and seeing dramatic reductions, so patients out the door hours quicker with the right medicines. “Our challenge there is that until we have PBS prescribing rights for pharmacists, all the pharmacists can do is write a prescription and ask the doctor to sign it, and that means that you’re still effectively wasting a lot of time because it’s not a value add activity at that step. “If they’ve already agreed the treatment plan, then adding a signature to a page doesn’t add value, but it just takes time.” O'Hara, who has been closely involved in the collaborative prescribing trial in NSW, said that it had been “really exciting this year to see advocacy really pay off”. NSW and WA “are getting collaborative prescribing over the line” in terms of legislation change, she said. “So getting that, working with all of the states to get that through has been a really massive achievement. And in New South Wales, those legislation changes are now fixed in the legislation and they’ve acknowledged that partnered pharmacists prescribing or charting is really key to getting people through the emergency rooms faster and getting those medicines right quicker. “So that’s been a really significant piece of advocacy work that has really paid off for both the profession and for our patients in that space. “So we continue to really advocate for and encourage for pharmacists prescribing to be done in that collaborative way as part of getting pharmacists embedded in multidisciplinary teams to focus on the medicines and give everybody else the time to do what they do best.” Highlights include 01:20 – How have the new practise recognition pathways evolved through 2025? 04:20 – The value of the independent pathway 05:38 – Advancements in empowering pharmacy technicians and assistants 08:09 – The launch of AdPha's clinical standards 09:33 – How can these changes be scaled nationally to free up pharmacists for higher level clinical duties? 11:42 – The difference between a residency and an internship 16:50 – “Our transitions of care are some of the highest risk points in any patient’s journey.” 20:46 – The NSW collaborative prescribing trial 21:52 – “1.3 billion of wasted expenditure in hospitals” 22:58 – Gaps and loopholes in transitions of care 25:09 – The impact of MedsAware Deprescribing Week 27:23 – How is the integration of electronic prescribing and electronic medical records fundamentally changing the clinical workflow of hospital pharmacists and what digital competencies are now essential for new graduates? 28:38 – “I expect to see digital competencies start to be built into our university degrees.” 32:00 – How is AdPha working with regulatory bodies and health services formally recognised the credential specialist, clinical pharmacists, and to ensure the remuneration and role expansion? 35:05 – “We’ve seen employers as well now asking for ANZCAP recognition as part of applications for jobs.” 36:24 – The gap in seven-day clinical pharmacy services 39:25 – Recruitment, retention and burnout 43:25 – Why are there more vacancies? 44:25 – “One nice trend I’m seeing these days is that there is much more of a portability in the profession.” 46:33 – Hopes and goals for 2026 You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription. ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify  Carlene McMaugh

On the latest AJP podcast, our host Carlene McMaugh speaks to pharmacist Keegan Wong about the impact of the 1 July vaping regulations  Among the topics covered in this podcast are: The impact of the regulations on the product’s that pharmacies can supply (03:11 minutes) What is the new process for patients to get a compliant product? Has their been an increase in prescriptions for higher concentration vapes? (07:12) What can we advise patients on the different nicotine concentrations and to find the right dose for their needs? (11:09) Are the new regulations curbing the black market? Or are they driving more people to search for illicit products? (14:54) What are the key things that patients need to know about the new regulations and how to access compliant products? (17:48) The next steps in vaping regulation (21:00) Where can you learn more about the changes? (24:59) You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription. ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify 

One pharmacist urges her colleagues to put aside their preconceptions of ADHD and those who live with it, and take a wider view Susan Nguyen, a Sydney pharmacy co-owner and founder of ADHD Support Pharmacist, has told AJP Podcast host Carlene McMaugh that she hopes pharmacists will try to gain a better understanding of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and consider how it affects patients' lives in multiple ways – including its comorbidities, and what pharmacists can do to help. She likens it to diabetes in the way that people make negative judgements about a patient's behaviour – but also contrasts it with regard to the lack of a holistic approach. “When you look at someone who has diabetes, they experience the judgement, ‘oh, they've got diabetes. Oh, they must have been having too much sugar or too many soft drinks. Or their parents probably gave them lollies every day',” she says. But even with this wider social stigma, pharmacists do not generally hold negative opinions about people with diabetes, she says, and do consider the wider picture. “You're thinking of foot care, wound care, vaccinations, diabetes med checks… diabetes has a lot of, I guess, comorbidities and other conditions and lifestyle factors played as well. “When you look at ADHD, it's a lot, just much the same. You're looking at a lot of comorbidities, you're looking at lifestyle, you're looking at complications, you're looking at as well, the stigma… “When you care for someone with ADHD and you delve into it more, you start to see there's anxiety, there’s depression, there's also [that] unmanaged ADHD means they may be eating, there could be obesity there, drug use work, relationship problems, a whole gamut. “So it's where pharmacists need to be.” Nguyen also looks into misconceptions such as overdiagnosis, that ADHD is a condition mainly affecting boys, and that ADHD medicines may impact quality of life. And significantly, she speaks about how people with ADHD are judged negatively for their own symptoms. “The lack of concentration, the disorganisation, the time blindness, not being able to manage your scripts, not getting your scripts. “It goes out of date, you freak out, the patient rings up and they say, ‘look, I haven’t got any of my medications left'. “When we hear that it could be easily seen as they’re being lazy, they’ve been so they’ve let themselves down to let us down. “It’s such a hassle. It’s inconvenient, but it’s the presenting symptom, and they’re stigmatised for their presenting symptoms. “We’re actually, as healthcare professionals, as pharmacists, as even as society, we’re almost punishing people with ADHD for what they have, whereas someone with diabetes, they might have more UTIs, they might have infections that just don’t heal, that sort of stuff. “But there’s a lot of support. And that’s because we look at the symptoms, we understand the pathophysiological side, but because of that lack of, I guess, understanding of ADHD, it’s become more of about a character flaw or character trait. “And so that really makes it hard for, I guess, healthcare professionals to show that care and support. “And I feel that this is where we need to really, as pharmacists making that stance on that and then supporting our patients in a much better way.” Highlights include: 01:21 – Why does ADHD need more attention in pharmacy? 04:18 – The comparison with diabetes 07:14 – ADHD in women and inattentive symptoms 08:11 – The role of social media 12:26 – Will medication “fix it up”? 14:04 – How can we widen our views? 16:32 – “With stimulant prescribing, it is hard.” 18:10 – The consequences of unmanaged ADHD 20:44 – How do we share information? 21:49 – “Pharmacists may think, oh, they’re going to get tolerant when they take  Ritalin for so long.” 23:10 – “If you’ve seen a patient who comes in with their prescription for Vyvanse, we can’t assume that, hey, everything’s under control.” 26:27 – The carer's perspective 28:37 – Pharmacists with ADHD 32:39 – “We need more pharmacists to really be in that space to advocate for patients.” You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription. ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify  Carlene McMaugh

The cost of living is hitting Australians hard – and arguably none more so than students who need to complete unpaid practical placements, says one high-profile student National Australian Pharmacist Students Association national president Sebastian Harper has opened up to AJP Podcast host Carlene McMaugh about the financial pressures on pharmacy students – and how NAPSA aims to take a greater role in advocacy for the profession. “There really needs to be a revolution in how we approach placements, and this doesn’t just go for pharmacy, but this is, as far as I understand, pretty much all health disciplines,” Harper says. He highlights the increasing cost of living throughout the 2020s… “which I think everyone, not just in Australia but around the world is very conscious of”. “But students, young people, but also mature age students, many who might have a mortgage, they might have kids at home that they have to feed. The cost of living crisis is really hitting hard and that’s why we’re trying to, in our capacity as a student organisation, mitigate that as much as possible.” Students are literally having to decide whether they can afford to buy food or pay rent at their usual home, and actually finish their placements, Harper says. He also talks about the “hidden costs” of prac placements – from uniforms to transport and hospital parking – as well as offering some advice for preceptors. But there have been positive developments as well, he says – not only have some disciplines been granted prac payments, there are options such as government housing for students. “I had a fantastic experience on placement where I was in Mount Isa and I was housed with about six other students from other health disciplines,” he enthuses. “We had a couple speechies, we had a medicine student, dental student physio, science, so there were a lot of different disciplines there, and it was great to just for our mental wellbeing, but also the idea of us being better interprofessional collaborators in the future that after each shift we got to almost debrief about our days and interesting cases we saw. “I learned more about what speechies do there purely by just talking to them.” He also tells McMaugh about the establishment of the Health Students Alliance, a new organisation bringing together just over 40 health student associations across the country. Highlights include: 00:56 – Priorities for NAPSA 02:38 – The cost of living, and lack of prac payments 03:38 – The impact of placement poverty 05:57 – Advocating for a highly feminised workforce 08:00 – Hidden costs 10:47 – “I’ve just anecdotally heard from my members on calls or at events and things like that, but they’re literally going hungry throughout the entire day.” 11:47 – How financial pressures impact health 14:41 – Youth allowance and advocacy 19:40 – Some solutions 23:38 – How can pharmacists support their students? 26:04 – The potential for impact on the future workforce 30:24 – How to find your niche 33:17 – Some of NAPSA's key initiatives – including splitting the rural and Indigenous chair positions 37:10 – “The future of pharmacy is incredibly exciting.” 39:52 – “The biggest thing that registered pharmacists can do is just enable the excitement of the next generation.” You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription. ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify  Carlene McMaugh

PSA Victorian pharmacist of the year Sara Murdock talks about a “sliding doors” moment in her career – and why it's important to make sure every patient's voice is heard Murdock tells the AJP Podcast's Carlene McMaugh about the many times she has reinvented herself – from arriving in Australia from war-torn Iraq “with nothing, just hope” to the time she walked away from a job that refused to offer her, a single mother, the flexibility she needed to parent her son. “I think people often think of pharmacists as people that dispense and dispense scripts and check scripts, but once they get to know me, they realise our impact goes far beyond the pharmacy doors,” she says. “We're often the first point of contact for someone who’s scared in crisis, overwhelmed or in pain, and we're quite often educating or triaging. We listen a lot and we are often in people’s lives for a very long time, so we have conversations we support, we offer support, and we build trust and that's where the real impact happens, not just inside the pharmacy but out in their community every single day.” For Murdock, this means “hands-on” health delivery in Pascoe Vale, where she works, going to local clubs to do free blood pressure checks, getting involved with Rotary, overhauling her pharmacy to put in consulting rooms and talking at schools and local football cubs. But it also means really being there when it matters to patients. “I'll never forget this lady who came into the pharmacy one late afternoon. I remember it clearly because she wasn't a regular patient and she looked completely overwhelmed. “She had a toddler on one hip and a script and her hand and her eyes looked quite puffy that she'd been crying and on paper at the time it looked like just a repeat for an antidepressant that you could have dispensed, but something just didn't feel right and instead of just processing her prescription, I asked her gently at the time, ‘how are you? Are you okay?' “And she broke down, she hadn't slept, she hadn't eaten properly and she'd just left the home because of an abusive partner. “And she said to me, I didn't know where else to go. So I came here and in that moment the pharmacy became more than a pharmacy. “I brought her into the consult room, gave her space to breathe, linked her to support services, and I contacted her GP to coordinate the next steps. “But more than that, I made her feel safe, seen, not rushed and not judged. And I remember her saying that I was the very first person who didn't look away and that interaction has stayed with me forever. “I believe behind every prescription is someone surviving something and sometimes the difference we make isn't in the medicine, but in the way we choose to show up.” Highlights include: 01:13 – “Sliding doors” – why Murdock left one pharmacy job, finding her way to one which was “amazing” 02.23 – What people don't realise about pharmacists 04:03 – “We’ve built a culture I'm very proud of where every voice is heard.” 04:46 – Helping a desperate customer 05:51 – Advice on handling difficult situations 08:07 – “I've had to reinvent myself quite a few times and it started early.” 10:54 – What keeps you going? 11.29 – “Balanced? What's that word?” 12:49 – Transforming health care in Pascoe Vale 15:32 – Beyond the pharmacy walls 16:57 – If you could change one thing in the pharmacy profession, what would it be? 17:38 – Advice for pharmacists starting out 18:49 – “Balance doesn’t mean perfect proportions every single day.” 19:04 – AI and pharmacy 20:29 – How Murdock's pharmacy evolves to meet the community's needs 20: 51 – How does the future look? You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription. ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify  Carlene McMaugh

AI is a field full of misconceptions, with many afraid to use it – but expert Andrew Bartlett tells the AJP Podcast how it's being used to help learning and simulate patient interactions “There is still a lot of people who are scared of AI,” says Andrew Bartlett, academic at the University of Sydney's School of Pharmacy, and PhD candidate. “Students are afraid to use it. They think they'’re going to get caught cheating.” But “The way that university, particularly the University of Sydney works now, is that we have assessments to help learning and we have assessments of learning and AI is allowed in those assessments where it's helping learning. “I think there’s a misconception [that] whatever you put in is private and I don't think it is. And so I think there's some serious concerns that people need to take into consideration about what they put into AI.” Bartlett has been having his students help him develop AI agents – “it's a bit of a class project”. “I have a pharmacy management tutor and we use it in the class, so I'll give them a topic, say we're talking about the pharmacy employment landscape in different areas of Australia. “I might give each little table group a prompt and they put it into the agent and then collectively they've got to come up with a three minute presentation that they've got to teach back the class. “So they quite like doing that. It means that there's almost like an extra one of me accessible when they need it. “When it comes to exam preparation as well, it's got all my teaching resources in there, they can ask it questions, I can train it to behave a bit like I would in the way that it asks questions. “So I'm accessible 24 hours, but I still get to sleep.” Highlights include: 01:12 – Bartlett's background in pharmacy, and how he became interested in AI 02:18 – “I was seeing them use AI in classrooms and I was seeing that they were using it really badly.” 03:24 – AI misconceptions 04:37 – How students respond to the AI agents 06:48 – AI for patient counselling scenarios 08:50 – The key benefits of simulated patient interactions 09:39 – How to minimise mistakes 11:16 – “AI can be quite good at stepping someone through a reflective process.” 13:02 – Bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and real-world pharmacy skills 14:29 – How could AI change a pharmacist's day-to-day role? 15:56 – “It's interesting looking at the biases that come through.” 19:24 – What skills do pharmacists need in an AI-driven future? 21:35 – Getting up to speed 22:36 – The next frontier 25:17 – Embracing AI in business You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription. ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify  Carlene McMaugh

The AJP’s podcast host Carlene McMaugh shares her career lessons and tips “It starts with knowing your values, what you are looking for, that you’re willing to leave the comfort of where you are and start something new,” says Carlene McMaugh.  In the latest episode of the AJP Podcast, McMaugh details the ways pharmacists can think about their career in 2025.  There are opportunities to use new technology for searches and to brush up on marketing, she said.  “You could type in your skills or your experiences and to ChatGPT and ask for suggestions about roles or you can even put your CV in and ask what options there are out there.” Other highlights include:  04:46: Carlene shares her own career journey.  12:30: Thinking about your brand.  17:16: Using AI to enhance your resume.  19:04: The importance of networking.  You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription. ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify  Carlene McMaugh

A leading aged care pharmacist discusses how pharmacy has changed over the years – and his passion welcoming those changes The AJP Podcast talks to the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia's inaugural Aged Care Pharmacist of the Year – Neil Petrie, who has been working primarily in aged care, undertaking medication reviews for the past 25 years. He has also owned his own community pharmacy in the past and semi-retired into aged care onsite pharmacy under the ACOP program. With a father and uncle who were pharmacists, he says he remembers being about six or seven years old, “and going to the pharmacy after hours with my dad to make up an APC mixture, if I remember rightly, which was aspirin, phenacetin, and caffeine in it”. “And I vividly remember my father saying, hold that needle and don't drop it. And what did I do? I dropped it onto the footpath, didn't I? “So pharmacy’s been in my blood for a long time and I did have my own pharmacy for about 13 years, but I realised I wanted to do something a little bit different and when I had my pharmacy, I started servicing some hostels at that point in time and I really enjoyed that work.” Petrie was one of Australia's first pharmacists accredited to conduct medication reviews in 1998 – and ever since, his motto has been change. He says ACOP will only increase in time, and “highlights our impact on direct resident care, medication safety, the quality use of medicines, and really system-wide improvements to medication procedures. So it really showcases us as pharmacists as a valued integral part of the care team.” This is also highlighted, he says, by the sheer need for pharmacists' services; discussing the most common medication-related problems in aged care facilities, given the amount of polypharmacy – and more importantly, inappropriate polypharmacy – underway. Highlights include: 01:13 – Neil's introduction to pharmacy 03:42 – Aged care: a changing environment 05:11 – RMMRs and lack of rural and remote support: a disillusioning moment 06:14 – The responsibility of promoting ACOP 07:39 – Over 30-plus years in the field, what has changed the most? 09:29 – “How one person within the organisation can change an organisation overnight” 10:40 – The most common medication-related problems in ACFs 11:46 – Beginning an antibiotic stewardship program 13:11 – Taking the workload off the nurses 15:09 – “We have to get to a point where society says wherever medication is involved in therapy, there’s a pharmacist involved.” 17:11 – Thoughts on deprescribing 18:36 – The role of interdisciplinary team-based care 20: 54 – “How do you approach educating both residents and their families about their medications?” 22:07 – Practical strategies 23: 58 – “Polypharmacy is challenging.” 25: 06 – Neil's vision for the future 29:26 – How can technology help? 32:18 – What advice would you give young pharmacists? 42:07 – A passion for antimicrobial use You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription. ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify 

“Saying sorry seems like such a simple, inherent notion, but it can also be a minefield,” PDL professional development pharmacist and Be Risk Ready host, Amy Minion says  Meridian Lawyers' Chandrika Darroch joins PDL Podcast host, Amy Minion, and pharmacist, Georgina Woods, to discuss how to apologise when incidents occur.  This episode of the Be Risk Ready PDL Podcast looks at how to apologise for an incident, and what to do and not do.   The topics covered include:  “It's important to normalise adverse events” (2 minutes 36).  Make sure the patient feels heard (3:54).  “Apologies are a very important component of incident and complaint management, and the regulators generally have quite a poor view of practitioners who are neither apologetic or reflective” (7:24).  Open disclosure (9:17).  “It’s important to keep in mind that no one is infallible” 10:08.  Apology laws and how to actually say sorry (15:49).  “Matters escalate when there’s been a failure to acknowledge that something’s gone wrong” (18:48).  “You can and you should express sympathy, regret or concern” (20:18).  Resources available for pharmacists (21:31).  You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription. ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify 

One multi-award-winning pharmacist talks to the AJP Podcast about why we need to value the services available in pharmacy – and pay for them The Capital Chemist Charnwood is in the news again: 11 years after being named Guild Pharmacy of the Year, it has again taken home two of the final awards in the competition, being recognised for excellence in Community Engagement and Excellence in Harm Minimisation at APP25. Co-owner Samantha Kourtis told AJP Podcast host Carlene McMaugh that government decisions, made without input from pharmacy, were a strong influence on her implementing a fee-for-service model. “From the early days, I’ve been a huge advocate for charging [for] things,” Kourtis says. “And 13 years ago I walked into this pharmacy. Everything was free, free blood pressure, free home delivery, free Webster packs, free consult with the baby nurse, free everything. “And early on I was like, well, this has to stop.” It simply wasn't a viable business model, she realised – perhaps counter-intuitive given that Charnwood is one of Canberra's lowest socioeconomic demographics, but as it turned out, customers are happy to pay what pharmacist expertise is worth. She pointed out that she bought into the business in March 2010 – and that in October that year, the federal government announced accelerated price disclosure. “I was in a real position where my business loan could have crashed and burned. The bank could have come in and taken it away because overnight the value of our businesses went down… “And we’ve seen this happen several times over the last 10 years with what the government's done. “So it was my commitment to valuing the work that a registered healthcare professional did and my commitment to stopping the of services in pharmacy and then the financial pressure on me as a brand new young business owner that had to go, okay, well, I don't want to pay my pharmacist award wage. I want to pay them well, because they do a really great job. “So if someone wants to sit down with a pharmacist for a blood pressure check, they'll pay for it. And that has gained momentum from then. And we were charging $15, 13 years ago, for a wound consult fee.” Highlights include: 01:40 – Becoming an award-winning pharmacy through the ups and downs 05:01 – What did winning the awards mean for staff and the community? 06:59 – Talking about harm minimisation in schools 08:07 – What it takes to being an award-winning pharmacy in this space 11:11 – Engaging with the community 13:22 – The viable business model 16:11 – Why $10 for a consult is “such a joke that is so disrespectful to our profession”. 17:01 – “Nobody complains really about the price.” 18:29 – What does being unsurprised in pharmacy mean to you? 21:10 – “I could not believe that the leaders in our country thought that [disparaging pharmacists over 60-day dispensing] was a good idea.” 22: 31 – “Actually, it doesn't matter what I think. Doesn't matter how I practise, doesn't matter how much I care, things are going to happen. And that was quite freeing.” 24:11 – On being part of the scope trials 28:38 – What are the core values of your pharmacy? 31:35 – A challenge for pharmacists: be unsurprised 34:36 – A “vulnerable time” for pharmacy You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription. ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify 

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