THE Australasian College of Pharmacy (ACP) is offering a free online training program to prepare pharmacy assistants (PA) for the rollout of the national COVID-19 vaccination (COVAX) program through community pharmacies.
The Safe Vaccination Services in Community Pharmacy Program aims to give PAs strategies to manage changes in workflow and patients' expectations, to support pharmacists when they can administer COVAX shots.
ACP CEO, Dr Dimitri Kopanakis, said the course would help the community pharmacy sector to deliver the vaccination program with minimal disruption to normal trading.
"The College recognises that people will be looking to their local, trusted community pharmacies for reliable advice and services relating to COVAX, just as they have done with the flu vaccine for many years," Kopanakis said.
"This online course is specifically designed for pharmacy assistants working in retail, so they can confidently manage the extra logistics required, like infection control, queue coordination, appointments and bookings, refrigeration requirements, record-keeping and data management.
"As the primary healthcare provider, the pharmacist immuniser can then focus on providing patients with the COVID-19 vaccine and answering their questions."
The course covers a range of topics including, handling and disposal of sharps, managing patient flow and triaging patients with symptoms, keeping vaccines safe, first aid and patient monitoring.
CLICK HERE to enrol in the course, which was developed in partnership with the Pharmacy Guild of Australia Queensland Branch.
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