With pharmacy assistants (PAs) among the key frontline workers part of the accelerated Covid-19 vaccine rollout announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison on 22 July 2021, the Australasian College of Pharmacy (ACP) is working to prepare PAs through a free online course, ‘Safe Vaccination Services in Community Pharmacy Program’.
The free course is available to PAs nationally, offering practical strategies for supporting pharmacist immunisers, managing patient’s expectations and changes to workflow.
Dr Dimitri Kopanakis, CEO of the ACP says that the training will help community pharmacies contribute significantly to the national vaccination program with minimal disruption to normal trading, especially during the flu season.
“The College recognises that people will be looking to their local, trusted community pharmacies for reliable advice and services relating to Covid-19 vaccines, just as they have done with the flu vaccine for many years,” says Dr Kopanakis.
“This free online course is specifically designed for pharmacy assistants working in retail, so they can confidently manage the extra logistics required, like infection control, queue coordination, appointments and bookings, refrigeration requirements, record-keeping, and data management.
“With Scott Morrison’s announcement that all eligible community pharmacies will be able to vaccinate Australians against Covid-19 in the next few weeks, I encourage all pharmacy assistants to complete the training.”
“The training enables pharmacy assistants to support pharmacist immunisers so they can then focus on providing patients with the Covid-19 vaccine and answering their questions,” he says.
The free course covers such topics as:
- Sharps handling and disposal;
- Managing patient flow and triaging patients with symptoms;
- Keeping vaccines safe;
- First aid;
- Patient monitoring.
The online course was created in partnership with The Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Queensland Branch.
Pharmacy assistants can enrol in the free course at acp.edu.au.
