Practice Alerts

Updates from our Professional Officers

PDL members are kept notified via our regular email notices called Practice Alerts. We bring awareness to potential risks that could impede on the pharmacy profession. They are often sent reactively, from trends and incident reports conducted by PDL and other influencing bodies, in a bid to help our members avoid an incident. They can be national alerts or state-specific if connected to local legislation.

A wide range of guides and resources are also available to PDL members that have been developed to support pharmacists in their daily practice. 

Featured Articles

Practice alert incident 101 2

Incident reporting 101

Pharmacists are at the forefront of patient care, ensuring the safe and effective use of medications. Despite pharmacists best efforts, incidents can result in complaints, even if there is minimal impact on the patient and immediate resolution has occurred. This...

My Health Record insights from Meridian Lawyers website image

My Health Record insights from Meridian Lawyers

PDL Professional Officers occasionally receive incident reports and notifications relating to breaches or concerns regarding access to a patient’s My Health Record. Some of these cases require responses to the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) and/or the Office of the...

Recognising when a pharmacist needs support webiste image 1

Recognising when a pharmacist needs support

PDL Professional Officers continue to receive enquiries and incident reports that have contributing factors such as pressure, stress, workload or fatigue. PDL recognises the high demands placed on community and hospital pharmacists including interns, pharmacy owners and other staff members...

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The art of saying sorry

Meridian Lawyers issue state and territory-specific guides It’s OK to say sorry. Pharmacists are human beings and fallible, so despite their best efforts, adverse events and mistakes can still occur. A key component of managing an incident is offering a...

Dispensing, Legislation, Practice Alerts, Scope of Practice, TAS

Tasmania pilot to commence 1st March

Tasmanian pharmacists may be aware of the Tasmanian Community Pharmacy Program, scheduled to go live on 1 March 2024. Endorsed pharmacists practising in approved premises will be able to prescribe...

Dispensing, Incident Management, NSW, Practice Alerts, Risk Management

Mitigating risks of the Opioid Therapy Program

Pharmacists have admirably navigated the changes to the provision of the Opioid Therapy Program (OTP) in 2023, overcoming numerous challenges whilst maintaining uninterrupted service to their...

Incident Management, National, Practice Alerts, Risk Management, Scope of Practice, Vaccination

Administering medicines by injection

In recent years, the pharmacy profession has seen significant expansion in the range of medicines that pharmacists can administer by injection. The scope has broadened to encompass different age...

Dispensing, National, Practice Alerts, Privacy and Consent, Risk Management

Electronic prescriptions

The introduction of electronic prescriptions has improved patient accessibility to medication and reduced the administrative burden on pharmacies related to faxed or emailed prescriptions. Most...

Dispensing, Legislation, NSW, Practice Alerts

NSW regulatory updates

Psychostimulant changes The PDL Professional Officers would like to bring to the attention of NSW pharmacists some recent regulatory changes regarding the requirements to prescribe the Schedule 8...

COVID-19, Incident Management, National, Practice Alerts, Vaccination

Another variant vaccine, another potential risk

With the availability of the latest Pfizer (COMIRNATY®) Omicron XBB.1.5 vaccine, indicated for 12 years and over, there may be potential for selection or administration error. This is due to the...

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