Standard of practice in pain management for pharmacy services

Abstract

The authors acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which our members meet, work and live, including the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, Traditional Custodians of Naarm, where the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA) is based. We thank Elders past and present and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples as the first pharmacists, bush medicine practitioners, and doctors who practised on these lands. PREFACEIn Australia, everyone shares a fundamental right to safe and high-quality health care. This is defined in the Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights, 1 which all healthcare systems must strive to uphold. The Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights summarises the basic rights of patients and consumers when accessing healthcare services, including access, safety, respect, partnership, information, privacy, and the ability to give feedback. The provision of pharmacy services must encompass the Charter to deliver effective, efficient, timely, and equitable person-centred care and pain management.This Standard references, and relies upon, SHPA Standards of Practice for Clinical Pharmacy Services 2 as the foremost Standard. This Standard supersedes the previous 'Standard of practice in pain management for pharmacy services', 3 and because pain management exists in almost all practice specialties, this Standard may overlap with others. Depending on the area of specialty practice, it may be advisable to refer to additional Standards of Practice.The use of the word 'specialisation' in this Standard is in line with the National Competency Standards Framework for Pharmacists in Australia, 4 where 'specialisation' refers to the scope of practice rather than the level of performance. 'Specialisation' in and of itself does not confer additional expertise.