Only a medical degree can train a pharmacist to prescribe
The AMA has again rejected the autonomous pharmacist prescribing trials, explaining in a submission no training program for pharmacists other than a medical degree will provide the training and experience required to autonomously prescribe.
The AMA’s submission to the Australian Pharmacy Council (APC) is in response to a consultation on accreditation standards for pharmacist prescriber education programs. This is the first public consultation on these standards.
In addition to rejecting autonomous prescribing, the submission details the processes and procedures for developing prescribing competencies that were developed over years to ensure that any non-medical profession seeking to prescribe is able to safely, ethically and competently do so.
This is specifically detailed in the agreement in 2016 of the Australian Health Ministers to introduce a national governance framework and process for non-medical health practitioners to apply to prescribe or expand their prescribing of medicines, and the National Prescribing Competencies Framework.
That the trials have ignored these frameworks brings into question the purpose of the process for developing these standards. The AMA does not question the integrity or intent of the APC, however the entire process is being conducted at the behest of the Pharmacy Board whose official position on autonomous prescribing has been ignored in the various trials around the country.
The AMA continues to fight the pharmacy prescribing trials and push for greater access to medicines in the You deserve more campaign.
