Use of pharmacists in pandemic influenza planning in Australia

Introduction: No country or community is immune from the potential threat of a pandemic influenza outbreak. Being prepared, planning, and ensuring plans are in line with the latest health workforce activities is essential to reduce the impact associated with an outbreak. Pharmacists provide essential health services to the public and are one of the most accessible health professionals in Australia. How pharmacists are incorporated into pandemic influenza planning and gaps in their utilisation is unknown. Objectives: To determine how Australian State and Territory health departments currently plan to utilise pharmacists during a pandemic influenza outbreak. Material and methods: Conversations with key stakeholders and industry experts highlighted five roles suitable for pharmacists during a pandemic outbreak. These included antiviral distribution, vaccination, surveillance activities, ‘absence from work’ certificates, and emergency medication supply. Australian State and Territory pandemic plans were reviewed for the presence of these five critical pharmacist roles. The pandemic plan for the Australian Capital Territory is not publicly available and was not included in this review. Results: Most pandemic plans included pharmacists' roles in antiviral distribution (5/7, 71.4%), this was followed by vaccination administration (3/7, 42.9%), with surveillance activities and absence from work certificates being mentioned in one pandemic plan each (14.3%). Issuing of emergency medication supply was not included in any state or territory pandemic plans. Conclusions: Pharmacists are underutilised in current pandemic planning and response as outlined in state and territory pandemic plans. It is essential that planning efficiently utilises resources and personnel to their full potential to improve pandemic response and outcomes. Pharmacists are the third most common health professional in Australia, they are highly accessible, highly trained and supported by existing infrastructure to perform key roles in pandemic response. Utilisation of this sector of the health workforce is cost-effective and efficient. By leaving out this essential health workforce, pandemic response and health systems may be compromised in the event of a pandemic in Australia