MedsASSIST
The week in review
Horror asthma events triggered by thunderstorms and top speakers at the Guild parliamentary dinner… This week, three Victorians died after they suffered respiratory problems in the “thunderstorm asthma” emergency, and …
MedsASSIST tops 4 million transactions
More than four million transactions have now been recorded in MedsASSIST, the Pharmacy Guild says. As of yesterday (21 November) the codeine real-time recording and monitoring system had clocked up …
Poll: Will codeine be upscheduled?
It’s the decision pharmacy has been waiting for – and it’s tipped to be made within a matter of weeks The future of codeine-containing preparations available without prescription from pharmacy …
Codeine decision expected within weeks
Will the success of MedsASSIST be enough to prevent the upscheduling of OTC codeine products? At the ASMI conference in October, Health Minister Sussan Ley suggested a final decision on the scheduling …
Upscheduling codeine disregards pharmacist expertise: ASMI
The Australian Self Medication Industry has restated its support for retaining the current status of over-the-counter codeine-containing analgesics. The statement follows several mainstream media reports over the last 24 hours, …
‘Nobody has developed a relationship with me.’
Pharmacists “defensive and antagonistic” about gatekeeping codeine, says chronic pain sufferer Chronic pain sufferer Jackie has been sent home after surgery without pain relief, threatened with police removal and had …
MedsASSIST hits two million recorded transactions
Monitoring system for medicines containing codeine has reached a significant milestone More than two million transactions involving OTC medicines containing codeine have been recorded by pharmacists participating in the MedsASSIST …
Codeine decision an opportunity as most take up MedsASSIST
The TGA’s long-awaited decision on the scheduling future of currently-OTC codeine-containing medicines – whatever that decision may be – will be an opportunity for pharmacy, says a pain expert. Joyce …
Aussies ignorant on opioid addiction, but not pharmacists
A huge proportion of Australians believe negative stereotypes about people with opioid addictions, but pharmacists are, for the most part, a significant exception. So says Bee Ismail, CEO of ScriptWise, …
Get with the program
The importance for all community pharmacies to be part of the MedsASSIST program cannot be overstated, says George Tambassis All pharmacies need to participate if we as a profession are …
Four reasons codeine should be S4 – but Guild disagrees
A pain specialist and researcher says there’s no evidence of benefit from current codeine-containing OTC products – and that “we can’t have a drug of abuse available over the counter”. …
Codeine recording not mandatory: Guild reminder
The Guild has issued a reminder to pharmacists in this week’s edition of Forefront that codeine recording is not mandatory While the Guild is encouraging pharmacies to use MedsASSIST, State …