Pharmacists are backing calls for urgent national action on kidney disease, with the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) supporting Kidney Health Australia‘s new strategy to address the growing health burden.
PSA supports ‘code red response’
PSA representatives were among the 140 stakeholders who joined the inaugural National Kidney Summit in October and contributed to the development of Kidney Code Red: The Response.
Pharmacists play a key role in detecting and preventing chronic kidney disease, which affects 1 in 7 Australians, with more than 2.5 million people unaware they are living with signs of the incurable disease.
Often, pharmacists use Home Medicine Reviews (HMRs) as a critical screening and diagnostic tool to ensure the safe and effective use of medicines and support healthy kidney function.
“The latest national statistics from Kidney Health Australia are very sobering and, as frontline health professionals, we are seeing the growing incidence and consequences of kidney disease every day,” says PSA National President, Professor Mark Naunton MPS.Â
“However, as Kidney Health Australia has demonstrated in its landmark report, there are several levers available that could rapidly improve patient outcomes, and pharmacists look forward to working with other health professionals to eliminate the incidence of kidney disease as quickly and effectively as we can.
“Home Medicine Reviews, which need to be uncapped from the current 30 per month limit, are one of the best tools we have to make rapid interventions.”
HMRs supporting early intervention
Providing an example of a 53-year-old male patient with rapidly declining kidney function, credentialed pharmacist Tim Perry FPS says HMRs can prompt significant changes in patient behaviour.
“He was not exactly engaged initially, but he listened with a bit more interest when I pointed out that everything is connected: diabetes, heart, kidneys,” he says.
“Sitting with him and showing him the steady decline in his kidney function made him start to think more about his long-term health and what was really important to him.
“That initial Home Medicines Review was to review adherence, but led to a whole new medication regimen and, after several follow-ups (which are so crucial), saw his resolution go from ambivalent to increasingly positive about his long-term health.
“His commitment is now 100% — his kidney function is now stable, his diet has changed dramatically, and he now makes a point of taking his wife and dog for a walk when he gets home.”
