Liza-Lie Olivier

Oncology Pharmacist:

• Managing and ordering chemotherapy for patients receiving chemotherapy in the Oncology treatment centre, and inpatients when required.
• Ensuring Consultants approve their orders on Aria promptly to be able to verify before ordering.
• Verifying chemotherapy orders by assessing pathology results, checking protocols charted against eviQ, built in Aria or other clinical studies and verifying the appropriateness.
• Calculating doses, and approving and dispensing of orders on ARIA if orders are clinically appropriate.
• Communicating with consultants in case of inappropriate dose, out of range pathology results, inappropriate protocol for diagnosed condition and documenting clinical intervention or verification.
• Ordering of chemotherapy and supportive medications from Slade, the contracted supplier.
• Dispensing and/or checking of S100 medications and delivering to Oncology treatment centre.
• Managing and checking of stock, ensuring the correct stock have been received from Slade, and ensuring all chemotherapy/Immunotherapy and supportive medications are available the day before treatment as a safety net. This allows a window for changes when a patient have been reviewed and needs a dose change and following up on orders in case of miscommunication or errors.
• Obtaining BPMH for patients receiving their first cycle of chemotherapy/immunotherapy and responsible for patient education and counseling on oral chemotherapy and supportive medications.
• Education on chemotherapy safety at home, ensuring patients understand how to protect their loved ones from exposure to cytotoxic medication and body fluids, and inform them on how to safely interact with the people around them.
• Regular communication and collaboration with nurses, consultants and care coordinators as a multi-disciplinary team to ensure optimal patient care.
• Managing workflow to be as efficient as possible and minimising unnecessary interruption. This involves being proactive, like checking the schedule to see when a patient will be reviewed, then checking the notes before contacting the consultants unnecessarily for information regarding results or treatment plans.
• Delaying orders on Aria in the event where patients did not receive treatment, and documenting the drugs and expiry dates to keep track of all patients delayed.
• Managing and rearranging the delayed stock to ensure availability for the next cycle.
• Documenting of changes to schedule immediately and informing Slade to ensure treatment will arrive on time, and to avoid wastage and unnecessary charges due to miscommunication.
• Implementing double checking and a form of safety netting by checking compounding reports and unapproved orders for the following week to detect any changes, in the event where we did not receive communication regarding changes, after treatment were ordered.
• This role requires being proactive and organised, ensuring availability of treatment at all times.
• Monitoring patient schedule to ensure follow up after reviews to detect changes promptly.
  

Dispensary Pharmacist:

• Assessing inpatient medication requests and verifying safety and appropriateness.
• Regular communication with clinical pharmacists in the ward or the team in wards where clinical pharmacists are not available.
• Checking pathology results for renal function, microbiology and bloods where necessary
• Checking dispensed inpatient medications and ensuring it is ready for delivery on time.
• Receiving, packing and managing of Schedule 8 medications for ward stock, preparing Schedule 8 medications for patients on discharge and managing and ensuring Schedule 8 medications balance and is correct.
• Review prescriptions and practice safety and quality assurance control for patients.
• Effectively counsel and advise patients on medication use to ensure safe and quality use of medications.
  

Clinical pharmacist:

• Working on wards on a rotational basis, mainly Medical, Surgical and Maternity.
• Responsible for managing day to day activities on the ward, mainly focussing on BPMH and Medication reconciliation to ensure patient safety and appropriate prescribing.
• Assisting with medication related queries and advice when needed.
• Responsible for clinical interventions while reconciling and reviewing medications to ensure that patient safety and appropriate prescribing are achieved.
• Responsible for communicating and following up with the team when errors were made with charting regular or new medications and ensuring errors are rectified.
• Working as part of a multi-disciplinary team including nurses, Medical officers and other allied health.
• Assisting the junior medical officers with prescribing when needed.
• Assisting the team on occasion with complex discharges and offering guidance when needed.

At the Royal Hobart Hospital pharmacists rotated on a regular basis. This ensured exposure to different roles and
responsibilities, and led to expanding skill sets and unearthing potential. I rotated in the following roles:

PBS Oncology pharmacist responsibilities:

• Dispensing of chemotherapy ordered for the day and ensuring it is dispensed according to PBS guidelines.
• Checking of the prescriptions dispensed for chemotherapy by the supporting dispense technician.
• Generating and requesting prescriptions for all PBS medications required for chemotherapy protocols.
• Ensuring the prescriptions required matches the correct PBS code according to diagnosis.
• Ensuring prescribers sign and check that the generated prescriptions is correct and meets the proposed PBS code.
• Running owing reports and ensuring all outstanding prescriptions is generated or requested.
• Following up and liaising with prescribers regarding outstanding prescriptions and ensuring they are
  accounted for.
• Running ARIA reports to ensure all prescriptions for future protocols are up to date and generating any
  prescriptions for treatment newly initiated.
• Responsible for dispensing and stock management of Hemlibra (emicizumab), indicated for Haemophilia
  A as a prophylaxis to prevent or reduce the frequency of bleeding, Evogam and Hizentra (Human Immunoglobulins). This requires liaising with the Paediatric oncology and haematology nurse regarding supply for patients, requesting prescriptions and ensuring that the ordering and dispensing of the product happens before the patients run out. This role requires good organizational skills and being proactive, as we were the only pharmacy in Tasmania that could manage and dispense these products.

Pharmacist at Wellington Pharmacy for outpatients responsibilities:

• Dispensing and checking of dispensed outpatient medication.
• Ensuring prescribed medication meets PBS or Tasmanian Medicines Formulary criteria, and if it does not meet the criteria, liaising with prescribers regarding possible TMAAC or SAS approval.
• Patient counseling and advising.
• Checking doses of medication that needs manufacturing and ensuring that it is appropriate.
• Checking of medications manufactured on site.
• Checking of repeats dispensed by the technicians that was due to be dispatched via delivery.
• Telephonic counseling of new medication due to be dispatched for delivery.

As a dispensary pharmacist my responsibilities includes, but is not limited to, activities relating to inpatients, discharges, out centres, narcotics, and the clozapine clinic.

Inpatient responsibilities:

• Triage medication orders according to urgency.
• Dispensing and checking of dispensed inpatient orders by technicians and interns.
• Verifying appropriateness of orders and checking any interactions and contraindications.
• Assisting with any inquiries from the nurses, clinicians, technicians or interns regarding inpatient medication and medication safety.
• Providing education and advice regarding therapeutics and pharmaceutics to interns, technicians and hospital staff.

Discharge responsibilities

• Dispensing discharge medication following the Tasmanian Medicines Formulary and PBS guidelines
  Communicating with clinical pharmacists regarding discharge medication.
• Ensuring medication is ready for collection or courier in a timely matter.
• Providing written information and verbal counseling when required and suitable.
  

Narcotics and Out centre responsibilities:

• Checking of all narcotics for imprest and non-imprest requisitions for wards and out centre.
• Managing S8 and S4D returns and destructions from wards and out centres.
• Responsible for receiving and unpacking of narcotics, counting and balancing of narcotics.
• Managing pharmacotherapy for patients on Opioid replacement therapy.
• Dispensing and/or checking of all out centre medication orders.
• Ensuring medication due to be sent via courier is ready on time.
  

Clozapine clinic responsibilities:

• Running the Clozapine clinic as the sole pharmacist for the day.
• Verifying the appropriateness of Clozapine therapy and communicating with prescriber if inappropriate.
• Dispensing of Clozapine prescriptions at the Clozapine clinic upon verification of blood results.
• Submitting blood results and whether or not Clozapine was dispensed on the CPMS portal.

Clinical pharmacist responsibilities:

• Admission interviews with newly admitted patients and best possible medication history taking
• Inpatient and discharge chart review
• Medication reconciliation, clinical review and determining therapeutic appropriateness of treatment
• Dispensing of medication for discharge
• Collaboration with nurses and clinicians regarding discharges
• Preparation of medication profiles upon discharge
• Communication with regular pharmacy regarding any changes in case of a Dose Administration Aid
• Providing written information and patient counseling upon discharge.

Oncology support Pharmacist responsibilities:

• Verifying chemotherapy protocols.
• Supplying of patient medication profiles with commencement of new chemotherapy protocol.
• Communicating with chemotherapy nurses and Clinicians and updating weekly treatment schedule.
• Ensuring treatment sheets for chemotherapy orders is available on time.
• Dispensing of all pre- and post- Chemotherapy medications.
• Dispensing of Chemotherapy.
• Ordering and receiving stock from suppliers.
• Distributing stock to the ward.

Dispensary pharmacist responsibilities:

• Dispensing inpatient and discharge medication and checking items dispensed by the technician.
• Providing education and advice to the technician and other hospital staff.
• Communicating with Clinicians and Nurses regarding patient medication.
• Distributing medication to wards.
• Ordering and receiving stock and receiving invoices.
• Checking narcotics and ensuring that the safe count is correct at all times.

• Managed high volume of prescriptions daily while maintaining excellent customer service and attention to detail.
• Developed strong relationships with healthcare providers to optimize patient care and medication adherence.
• OTC assistance and advising.
• Dispensing of prescriptions following PBS guidelines,
• Verifying appropriateness of prescribed medication and doing clinical interventions when needed
• Managing day to day pharmacy activities.
• Dosing of patients on Opioid replacement therapy and staged supply,
• Educated patients about possible drug interactions and gave special administration instructions.
• Checking of dose administration aids.
• Balancing Narcotics.

Aged care pharmacist responsibilities:

• Setting up new patient profiles and entering of prescribed medication using Quantum.
• Dispensing and supplying of medication to patients in nursing homes.
• Verifying appropriateness of prescribed medication, checking medication interactions and contraindications, doing clinical interventions when needed and incident reporting.
• Liaising with nurses and clinicians regarding patient medication.
• Managing medication changes and verifying therapeutic appropriateness.
• Assisting in dosage calculation for palliative care patients,
• Providing advice and support to interns, technicians, nurses and clinicians on pharmaceutical and therapeutic matters.
• Assisting in the training and supervision of the intern and providing support for his written and oral exam.
• Daily dispensing and checking of preemptive medication.
• Checking of dose administration aids.

• Responsible for managing all dose administration aids including sourcing all information from the patient or caretakers needed, Liaising with previous pharmacy and current prescriber regarding prescriptions and relevant information, Setting up patient profiles and handling all medication and care plan changes, Responsible for relevant activities in the pharmacy under supervision of a pharmacist, including OTC assistance and advising, dispensing of prescriptions, patient counseling and advising, clinical intervention and medication safety, balancing the Dangerous drug book, and extemporaneous compounding, Training in all activities in aged care pharmacy on a weekly basis

• Responsible for managing and packing all Dose Administration Aids, Dispensing of prescriptions and attending to customers

• Dispensing of prescriptions, Liaising with clinicians and nurses regarding patient medication and care, Setting up the Primary healthcare clinic in the hospital inside the prison in co-operation with the Operational manager, Member of the Pharmaceutical and Therapeutic Committee to address problems and shortcomings such as adverse drug reactions, medication safety and medication shortages, Ordering and receiving of stock, Packing and distributing ward stock to different clinics in the region, Educating prisoners regarding their health, the rational and responsible use of medication and the role of the pharmacy and pharmacy personnel, Extemporaneous compounding

• Responsible for relevant activities in the pharmacy under supervision of a pharmacist, including Dispensing of prescriptions for both inpatients and outpatients, Extemporaneous compounding, Patient counseling and advising, Packing and distribution of ward stock, Packing and delivery of narcotics to wards, and updating of the registers and Dangerous Drug books, Part of the Antimicrobial Stewardship program where I do weekly rounds with the Pathologist, Unit manager, and the clinical risk manager in the ICU, Responsible for the statistics regarding the adherence of the practitioners to safe and effective antimicrobial prescribing in an effort to prevent and restrain antimicrobial resistance, Responsible, in co-operation with the other Pharmacists and the clinical risk manager, for the training of the general practitioners as well as the Specialists at Medi-clinic Emfuleni in the implementation of the new Antimicrobial prescription charts, Responsible for organising pharmacy week and promotion of health and rational use of medicine, Taking part in continual professional development

• Gained experience in a retail and hospital pharmacy including receiving and unpacking stock on the shelves, assisting patients with OTC requests, and assisting the Pharmacist with picking prescribed items from the shelves