Purple Pen Podcast

In the first of our episodes live from the SHPA Medicines Management 2019 conference, Jane and Kristin asked some poster presenters to talk about their work. Visit purplepenpodcast.com for links to the poster abstracts.

Dan and Kristin are joined by Dr Rose Cairns from the University of Sydney and the NSW Poison's Information centre to discuss the latest trends in codeine usage. Dr Cairns' research shows us that since codeine up-scheduled, less codeine overall is being used, patients do not seem to be switching to higher strength codeine products and opioid poisonings are down. We also discuss whether there has been a switch to other prescription opioids, illicit opioids and the public perceptions of over the counter codeine.

In this episode, Dan and Kristin are joined by Professor Andrew Wilson, chair of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee. We discuss: What the PBAC does How it makes decisions on which drugs to recommend for subsidy How decisions are made in difficult situations, for example with new drugs with very little long term information, or where prices are exceptionally high The PBAC is an independent expert body appointed by the Australian Government. Members include doctors, health professionals, health economists and consumer representatives. You can find out more about the work of the PBAC here If you are interested in learning more about QALY's, Alwyn Smith's 1987 article "Qualms about QALYs" is an interesting place to start.

Jane and Kristin are joined by Nat Tasker and Duncan McKenzie from the SHPA's Medicines Management 2019 conference committee. We discuss highlights, include key plenaries, highlights, workshops and the gala dinner theme! SHPA Medicines Management 2019 will be held from 14-16 November on the Gold Coast. Visit the MM2019 website to view the program and register now! (Sorry for Duncan's audio freaking out around 10 minutes in!)

Jane and Kristin spoke to Dr Bec Szabo, a gynaecologist at the Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne. Topics covered in this episode: the impact of screening and HPV vaccination on the rate of cervical cancer in Australia the complex factors that impact on willingness and comfort discussing women's health common myths and misconceptions around women's health what the future might hold for greater diversity in healthcare leadership whether discussion about Eurovision is a valid method of contraception

Kristin and Dan caught up with Lauren Cortis, pharmacist and PhD candidate to talk about generalism, specialisation and how these interact with patients needing better care. We discuss: The risks of specialisation to patient care, and how patients need generalists as much as specialists Why pharmacists specialise and how we can think about the future of pharmacy Why all pharmacists should work towards being better generalists Why specialisation can cause problems for patients with cancer or chronic disease How generalist care isn't just adding together different specialists How 'generalist' as a word has negative connotations and how generalism is undervalued Visit Lauren's Blog to read more of her insightful thoughts

In today's episode, Kristin and Dan are joined by Dr Nisha Khot, obstetrician, educator and RANZCOG counsellor to discuss these common and potentially serious conditions in pregnancy. We discuss: How we define and diagnose gestational hypertension, pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, and the newer category of HELLP syndrome How pregnant womens present with these conditions - typical diagnosis, and new biomarkers Risks factors for these conditions Treatment and prevention options, including the role of aspirin and calcium supplementation Our treatment choices for controlling hypertension in pregnancy Links from this episode: Nisha's twitter profile The Society of Obstetric Medicines of Australian and NZ's Guideline for the Management of Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy Other guidelines from SOMANZ Summary and Full Text of the MAGPIE trial - demonstrating the benefit of magnesium sulphate in pre-eclampsia And! Remember that Early Bird Registration for Medicines Management 2019 closes on the 16th of September - not long to go! Register now and save up to $500!

In a special episode of the Purple Pen Podcast, Jane shares the story of her career journey. Originally presented at the 2018 SHPA Medicines Management Conference, Jane was invited to share her story again at Monash University which is where this episode was recorded. More information about the SHPA mentoring program is available here. Information about the Pharmacist Support Service is available here.

Kristin and Dan were joined by Toni Howell, Medication Safety pharmacist from St V's in Melbourne, and Chair of the SHPA Specialty Practice Leadership Group in Med Safety. We had a really enjoyable chat, covering lots of topics, including: A day in the life of a med safety pharmacist The benefits of joining your SHPA Specialty practice group Handling of medicines The importance of managing risk Pros and Cons of Electronic medication management How medication safety is everyone's job and crowd-sourcing patient care Bad handwriting (Doctors AND pharmacists) Nudging people to identify more med safety A reminder! If you are an SHPA member you can join a a Specialty Practice Interest Group. And practice group members are eligible to stand for election to the Leadership Committee.

Jane and Dan caught up with Dr Tanya Selak, anaesthetist, Tweeter and co-host of the MedEd StuffNNonsense podcast. We chat about silos and building good relationships in hospitals, common issues managing medicines in the peri-operative period and shortages, ah shortages… You can follow Tanya on Twitter here and check out the MedEd StuffNNonsense podcast here and here.