Oral Presentation Palliative Care Nurses Australia Conference 2022

palliPHARM: Timely access to anticipatory medicines for community palliative patients (#48)

Elisha Noone 1 , Jayne Henderson 1 , Liz Reymond 1 2 , Megan Tremlett 3
  1. Brisbane South Palliative Care Collaborative, Queensland Health, Eight Mile Plains, QLD, Australia
  2. School of Medicine, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Qld, Australia
  3. Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, West End, Qld, Australia

Background:

COVID-19 presents an unprecedented challenge for patients, carers and healthcare providers alike. During this pandemic, aspects of palliative care delivery need to change, though goals of palliative care do not. A particular concern for community-based palliative carer nurses is ensuring their patients have access to anticipatory medicines to avoid unnecessary suffering and unwanted transfers to inpatient facilities.

Queensland Health (QH), as part of the COVID-19 response, funded palliPHARM to explore and develop mechanisms that facilitate community patients (those at home and in residential aged care facilities [RACFs]), having timely access to symptom control medicines.

Aim:

To develop and implement interventions that facilitate community palliative patients having timely access to palliative care medicines.

Methods:

Interventions were developed after needs-based consultations with stakeholders including:

  • Specialist Palliative Care nursing staff
  • RACF clinical managers
  • Carers with lived experience
  • General Practitioners
  • Pharmacists

Interventions include:

  • Development and implementation of a core list of palliative care medicines to be routinely stocked by community pharmacies and held within RACFs
  • Development of an Example Policy and Procedure for RACFs to establish palliative care medicines imprest systems (PCMIS)
  • Provision of education to generalist nurses and other clinicians to raise awareness of anticipatory medicines and timely access to those medicines
  • Development of mechanisms for the public to locate the nearest community pharmacy stocking core palliative care medicines

Findings:

A Queensland-specific list of core palliative care medicines has been endorsed by key stakeholders. Over 20% (273/1189) of Queensland pharmacies have committed to stock those medicines. Those pharmacies are published on public-facing Queensland-based health directories and portals. 785 individuals have attended palliPHARM-led education sessions. The Example Policy and Procedure for RACFs to establish PCMIS has been endorsed by QH regulatory bodies.

Discussion:

Uptake of palliPHARM interventions have been well-received despite constraints caused by the pandemic.  It has been suggested that a statewide guidance document on Anticipatory Medicines is developed to ensure sustainability of palliPHARM interventions.

Conclusion:

The palliPHARM interventions have raised awareness of palliative care needs amongst generalist nurses and other clinicians, improving outcomes for community-based palliative patients.

Funding acknowledgement

This project was funded by Queensland Health.