JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Aged Care Onsite Pharmacist roles are progressively rolling out across Australia. Distinct from pharmacist practice in hospital and community pharmacy, the role is professionally isolated from other pharmacists, limiting opportunities for peer learning and collaboration, and practice-specific professional development.

Objective:

To co-design a training program that enhances the professional practice of aged care onsite pharmacists in line with the diverse interests of stakeholders.

Methods:

Focus group-style co-design workshops and stakeholder consultations will be employed in this project. The ‘Double-Diamond’ framework will be employed to structure the process, using four stages of alternating convergent and divergent exploration of stakeholder perspectives. A consumer advisory group has been engaged, consisting of persons with lived experience of aged care settings, for consistent observation and overarching guidance of the project. Exploratory workshops with pharmacists, allied health and medical professionals, residents, and families of residents will be conducted. Workshops will be audio- and video-recorded, transcribed verbatim and undergo thematic analysis. Insights obtained from overarching themes as well as individual perspectives will be used to design a pilot program, which will be presented and discussed for feedback during follow-up focus groups. A pilot phase will then be undertaken with aged care onsite pharmacists, who will be further involved in feedback and workshop-style focus groups to collaboratively refine the program.

Results:

Focus group-style workshops and oversight from a consumer advisory group will guide the development of a novel education intervention for practising aged care onsite pharmacists in Australia.

Conclusions:

This will be the first co-designed workplace-based training program available for pharmacists undertaking the novel, complex role of aged care onsite pharmacists. It is expected to be of benefit for developing clinical and non-clinical skills, facilitate integration into existing teams, and offer a pathway to professional recognition. Clinical Trial: Ethical approval was sought and obtained through the Adelaide University Human Research Ethics Committee (Approval #206543). All participants will provide informed consent prior to participation. The study is conducted in accordance with the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2023). This research was funded through the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) 2022 Quality, Safety and Effectiveness of Medicine Use and Medicine Intervention by Pharmacists (Grant ID: MRFMMIP000022).