Centre for Optimisation of Medicines, Department of Pharmacy, UWA

26/03/2026

Thank Your Pharmacist Day 💊

Pharmacists play a vital role in healthcare, ensuring medicines are used safely, effectively, and appropriately.

From hospital wards to community pharmacies, GP Practices and education, their expertise improves outcomes every day.

We’re proud to support and train the next generation of pharmacists.

10/03/2026

📣 Pharmacists: your voice matters... help shape the future of our profession!

The National Competency Standards Framework for Pharmacists is currently under review, and pharmacists across Australia are invited to contribute through a national survey.

These standards underpin safe, ethical and effective pharmacist practice and guide how pharmacists develop across their careers.

With pharmacy practice rapidly evolving through:
💊 Expanded scope of practice
💻 Digital health and telehealth
🌏 Sustainable healthcare
Your input is essential to ensure the updated framework reflects contemporary practice across all settings.

Complete the survey and help shape the future of pharmacy practice in Australia. Please follow this link to access the survey: https://www.psa.org.au/national-competancy-standards-framework/

⏳ Survey closes Friday 17 April 2026

04/03/2026

Rhonda Clifford, Liza Seubert and Julie Loveny attended the Pharmaceutical Care Network of Europe Conference in Innsbruck in February.

Rhonda delivered the opening keynote speech (titled Enhancing Outcomes Through Pharmaceutical Care Research) – which was very well received. She highlighted the current challenges for disproportionately affected populations and emphasised the critical role of pharmaceutical care research in improving health outcomes.

The UWA team also delivered two workshops on Developing Resilient Teams. Both were over subscribed, and created a lot of fabulous international discussions on supporting academic staff and those delivering health care.

Liza also presented two posters that focussed on innovations in teaching practice in the Pharmacy Department at UWA.

25/02/2026

Community Conversation today on Medication Reviews

We are thrilled to announce that our Consumer-Led Medication Reviews Community Conversation was oversubscribed! 🎉

This Community Conversation, hosted through the Consumer and Community Involvement Program, was designed to support open dialogue about consumer-initiated medicine reviews and empower people to play an active role in optimising their medication regimens. It reflects a growing recognition that lived experience and patient-centred perspectives are essential to shaping research and practice in medicines safety and quality use — particularly in the context of complex medication regimens in older adults. 

Thank you to everyone who expressed interest and to all who will contribute their voice, insight and experience. Their participation strengthens the evidence base for consumer-driven approaches and aligns with broader efforts to enhance meaningful consumer and community involvement in health research. 

Stay tuned for insights and outcomes from this important conversation!

12/02/2026

PhD student Amanda Quek has published an interesting paper titled "Dispensing patterns of prescription medicines among older Australians from 2013–2023."

Have a read of this infographic and let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

05/02/2026

"Healthcare spending and factors associated with fall injury in Australia residential aged care: a cohort analysis" is an insightful new article with contributions from Associate Professor Amy Page.

The authors concluded that:
- The healthcare spending on fall injury per resident annum in residential aged care represents 20% of the 2021-2022 healthcare expenditure per capita.
- The high cost and inverted U-shaped relationship between BMI and falls risk underscores the need for more effective and residential aged care-tailored falls prevention strategies in this setting.

If you are interested in reading this article, you can find it via the link https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/early/2025/01/06/ip-2024-045516.long

29/01/2026

PhD Student Amanda Quek, from our Department of Pharmacy at UWA, has published an exciting new paper titled "The development of a Community Service Announcement to raise awareness of the Home Medicines Review health service Program"

You can find the video cited in the article via this link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3VssXGcw6U

Authors: Quek HW, Hawthorne Deborah, Herandez Esther, Thompson A, Lee Georgie, Hart B, Huxhagen K, Rodrigues P, Barwick A, McDonough Tiernan, Young F, Currie B, Phillips K, Truong R, Ly D, Angley Manya, Page AT

Australasian Journal of Ageing 2025 44(3) e70086 A

Congratulations to Amanda and her team on an important Community Service Announcement and interesting publication!

Home Medicines Review are a government funded service involving a home visit with a pharmacist to help Australians get the best out of their medications. Thi...

27/01/2026

22/01/2026

New research shows dental opioid dispensing has increased over the last decade which highlights the importance of opioid stewardship in dentistry.

Using a nationally representative 10% PBS dispensing sample, this longitudinal study looked at opioids prescribed by dentists from 2013–2022.

What they found:
- 998,774 dental prescriptions were dispensed to 470,118 patients
-18.4% of dental prescriptions were opioids (183,303 prescriptions)
- Dispensed dental opioids increased by an average of 4.4% per year across the decade
- The average quantity of opioid pills dispensed decreased over time
- 2,727 children and adolescents were dispensed dental opioids
- Most people received ≤4 opioid prescriptions, but a small group received much higher quantities (up to 149)

The study concludes that evidence-based opioid stewardship needs to include dentists, and that access to drug monitoring programmes could help support better prescribing decisions.

We’re proud to highlight that Associate Professor Amy Page and Dr Alex Park from our School of Health and Clinical Sciences collaborated on this important research project.

19/01/2026

This 9 News story features Dr Connie Locher from our Department of Pharmacy talking about WA honey. Have a watch and let us know what you think!

16/01/2026

PHCYM504 Advanced Clinical Skills
(UWA Plus micro-credential)

Strengthen advanced clinical decision-making through online, asynchronous learning focused on laboratory test selection/interpretation and patient-reported measures.

Flexible study options
3 weeks (~4 days/week) OR 7 weeks (~2 days/week)

Cost: $1,782 (inc. GST)

Next intake: 9 Feb 2026 (3 week intensive or 7-week option)

Registration closes: 2 Feb 2026
(More 2026 intakes available—see the course page for later 2026 intakes.)

Register via the UWA course page: https://www.uwa.edu.au/study/uwa-plus/micro-credential-advanced-clinical-skills

15/01/2026

New Research from UWA’s Department of Pharmacy!

We’re excited to share important findings from our team, including Associate Professor Amy Page and Dr Kenneth Lee, published in the International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy:

“Perspective of older people on which medicines they need to report to healthcare professionals as part of a medicines history: a qualitative descriptive study”

This study explored how Australians aged 65+ decide which medicines to report during healthcare visits. The research revealed that reporting is often inconsistent, especially for supplements, irregular medicines, and non-oral medications. This highlights the need for clinicians to ask targeted questions to ensure accurate medication histories.

Why it matters: Accurate medicine reporting is critical for safe prescribing and reducing medication-related risks in older adults.

Congratulations to our researchers for advancing medication safety and improving care for older Australians!