Pharmacy Daily | Chronic Pain MedsCheck training

THE Pharmacy Guild of Australia has released new CPD-accredited online training modules for community pharmacies conducting interventions with eligible patients as part of the 6CPA-funded Chronic Pain MedsCheck Trial.

The new modules aim to educate pharmacists on the complex condition of chronic pain, including both medicines and non-pharmacological strategies.

The specifics of the trial itself including its public health benefits, design, types of patients suitable for participation as well as chronic pain management support and referral pathways, are also covered.

The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia is also developing a series of non-compulsory training modules, along with Guidelines for pharmacists providing services for the Chronic Pain MedsCheck Trial.

MEANWHILE Pharmacy Guild National President George Tambassis has expressed disappointment at criticism by the Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Australian & NZ College of Anaesthetists, which claimed the trial "does not adequately recognise that the successful treatment of chronic pain requires a complex, co-ordinated approach".

Tambassis said the Faculty had "misrepresented or misunderstood the collaborative nature of this important trial...pharmacists are doing Chronic Pain MedsChecks for patients with established chronic pain just as they offer MedsChecks now for patients suffering from all sorts of existing conditions.

"No one has ever said it would be a panacea, but no one can deny after the recent codeine debate that it is important for pharmacists to use their medicines expertise to help deliver quality outcomes for patients," Tambassis added.

He noted protocols had been developed with the help of a range of experts, adding "my advice to the Faculty of pain specialists would be to get behind this trial in the interest of patients with longstanding, complex chronic pain.