On 1 September 2016, the Health Practitioner Regulation (New South Wales) Regulation 2016 came into effect. It replaced the Health Practitioner Regulation (New South Wales) Regulation 2010 which was repealed at that time.
New publications required
Although many of the requirements of the 2010 legislation continued in the 2016 legislation, there was a reasonably large change to the publications required to be available at all pharmacy premises and professional services room premises in New South Wales.
The new (now current) Regulation adopts, in Schedule 5 (for pharmacy premises) and Schedule 6 (for professional services room premises), the latest editions, and all published amendments or supplements to those editions, of the publications listed in the Pharmacy Board of Australia’s Guidelines on practice-specific issues—Guideline 1 (List of reference texts for pharmacists), as amended from time to time.
Requirements
The legislation allows these publications to be in either hard copy (published document) or electronic format (accessible by computer). Publications may be held in electronic format only provided that ALL pharmacists at a pharmacy can access the electronic versions by way of a password known to all pharmacists at that pharmacy. Clause 14 of the Regulation spells out the requirements for the use of electronic versions.
Current list of publications
At the current time the publications are:
a) the Australian Pharmaceutical Formulary and Handbook (APF) (23rd Edition)
b) the Australian Medicines Handbook (AMH) (2016 Edition)
c) Therapeutic Guidelines series (the complete set in hardcopy) or eTG
d) a source of current Australian product information and consumer medicine information
- MIMS Annual with MIMS Abbreviated (MIMS 2016)
- e-MIMS
- MIMS Online, or
- AusDI Advanced/AusDI.
e) a drug interactions reference (updated at least quarterly)
- AusDI Advanced/AusDI
- Drug Interaction Facts – Facts and Comparisons
- eMIMS
- MIMS Online
- Micromedex
- Stockley’s Drug Interactions Online, or
- Lexicomp Interactions.
f) the AMH Children’s Dosing Companion
g) the Australian Don’t Rush to Crush Handbook
h) an evidence-based reference work on complementary and alternative medicines
- Herbs and Natural Supplements: An evidence-based guide. Braun and Cohen
- Herbal Medicines. Barnes, Anderson and Phillipson
- Herbal Medicines and Dietary Supplements package (each resource can be independently accessed through MedicinesComplete)
- MedlinePlus: Drugs, Supplements, and Herbal Information (available free online)
- Natural & Alternative Treatments: EBSCO, or
- Natural Medicines (formerly Natural Standard and Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database).
i) copies of the legislation controlling the practice of pharmacy:
- the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, as in force in each state and territory (the National Law)
- Drugs, medicines and poisons legislation (www.legislation.nsw.gov.au)
- Standards, codes and guidelines relevant to pharmacy practice for each jurisdiction (including information published by relevant government departments and jurisdictional pharmacy premises registering authorities)
- Standard for the Uniform Scheduling of Medicines and Poisons (SUSMP) (www.tga.gov.au)
(In NSW the legislation allows the NSW Poison List or the Guild Guide to the Poisons Schedules as alternatives to the SUSMP)
j) the Australian Immunisation Handbook
k) the professional practice standards and guidelines published by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) and The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA)
l) the Pharmacy Board of Australia guidelines
m) the Merck Manual (Professional Version) (Merck Sharp and Dohme).
(Note: Unrestricted access to references i) – m) is available from relevant websites).
Finally, the NSW legislation also requires access to the Price Information Code of Practice (www.tga.gov.au), but no longer permits a full set of Self Care Cards as an alternative to the AMH.