Advice on the safe, appropriate use and handling of medicines

Advice on the safe, appropriate use and handling of medicines

All CHS staff need access to appropriate professional pharmaceutical support for their practice in relation to the following range of issues:

·      safe and secure handling and storage of medicines in all areas of use, including the transportation of medicines⁵

·      handling and use of cytotoxics

·      treatment of anaphylactic shock (vaccines are administered in schools and patients’ own homes as well as in clinics, and staff need regular training and access to kits containing adrenaline (epinephrine))

·      safe disposal of unwanted medicines (DN may find patients who have a stockpile of medicines that have expired or are no longer prescribed)

·      use of pharmaceutical samples

·      control of infection

·      handling, use and transport of vaccines within the ‘cold chain’

·      public health issues such as treatment of head lice infection

·      patient safety incident and adverse reaction reporting

·      hazard recall

·      implementation of National Patient Safety Agency and other alerts

·      Control of Substances Hazardous to Health

·      medicines information and query answering.

The provision of information and advice on medicine-related issues to CHS staff and, where appropriate, to the public is a key role for pharmacists working with CHS. The same standards of checking content and logging and documenting queries apply as in medicines information departments in hospitals (see Chapter 8). There should also be access to a medicines infor-mation department (via an SLA or contract) and clear lines of communication should be agreed so that urgent queries can be answered quickly. CHS pharmacists may also produce active information such as regular bulletins on appropriate topics and single-subject newsletters on specific issues.