ADVANCED Pharmacy Australia (AdPha) has released the fifth edition of Pharmacy Forecast Australia (PFA25), taking a look at emerging trends and phenomena across mental health care, advanced therapeutics, AI use in healthcare and workforce development.
Pharmacy leaders informed 42 recommendations, including calls to strengthen workforce models and recognition pathways, safely manage rising technologies, and embed sustainability and equity, providing a 'guiding light' for the profession at a pivotal juncture in pharmacy and healthcare.
With almost two-thirds of pharmacy leaders seeing an expanded role for pharmacy technicians, key recommendations include empowering their growth and extending legislative and regulatory reform to recognise and elevate the technician workforce.
Other recommendations included supporting Australian-made medicines to strengthen supply, sustainability and resilience, and combatting health misinformation by embedding information literacy and critical thinking in pharmacy education and standards.
Peter Smart, Pharmacy Forecast Advisory Committee Chair, said this year's analysis and recommendations are among the most comprehensive yet, with the annual Forecast going "from strength to strength".
"It is a privilege to work with data from the coalface that is so representative, from pharmacy leaders of hospitals and health services of all sizes, in regional and metro areas across every state and territory," Smart said.
He highlighted a new chapter in this year's forecast which explores pharmacy and healthcare preparedness for events - such as the COVID pandemic - that are rare, unpredictable, significantly disruptive and highly consequential.
"With PFA25 chapters also exploring tangible impacts of the climate emergency and the rapid ascent of AI, the report provides well-rounded and actionable recommendations to ensure we are ready," Smart added.
President Associate Professor Tom Simpson said the insights in PFA25 are crucial to supporting strategic planning in pharmacy across Australian hospitals and adjacent care settings, and in conjunction with AdPha's upcoming workforce insights report, will provide "the most comprehensive view yet of advanced pharmacy in Australia".
PFA25 is available HERE. KB
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