Rub shoulders with Kerri Barwick MPS (centre) and other members of team PSA at CPC24[/caption]
The use of insulin, considered a high-risk medication with APINCHs classification,5 Ms Barwick notes, provides justification for a Home Medicines Review (HMR). ‘There’s an advantage to going into the home to observe the patient’s diet, consider potential interactions, and educate patients on the best effects and outcomes,’ she says.
Advice around cleaning blood glucose level (BGL) monitors to ensure accuracy can also be provided. ‘Pharmacists can explain how to put test drops through and clean blood spills on the monitor, common in pregnancy due to higher blood volume,’ says Ms Barwick.
With only 50% of women diagnosed with GDM receiving tests for heart disease and type 2 diabetes post-pregnancy,6 HMRs can be beneficial at this stage of the journey, too.
‘Along with conversations around diet choices, exercise regimes and sleep, I also explain how often testing is required over the next 5–10 years, and how to monitor for signs of the development of diabetes,’ Ms Barwick advises.
Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy
The presence of iron in pregnancy multivitamins may exacerbate symptoms of nausea and vomiting in some pregnancies, according to Ms Barwick.
‘Pharmacists can recommend a trial cessation of the iron component of pregnancy vitamins, often unnecessary in pregnancy,’ she says.
In 2020, photographer Bobbi Lockyer created a Birthing on Country project to highlight and create awareness around birthing issues and outcomes in Aboriginal women. For more, see 
Suzanne Nielsen MPS[/caption]
Proud to call each of them ‘one of ours’, PSA WA State President Lusi Sheehan lauded the four winners of the 2023 WA Pharmacist Awards held in Perth last week.
‘These pharmacists have truly demonstrated the full scope of pharmacy practice in their respective faculties, have traveled beyond the regular roads of pharmacy and are outstanding in the heart of our profession,’ Ms Sheehan said. ‘They commit 100% to their roles, are passionate in the future of pharmacy and are leaders of our profession. We are proud to call them “one of ours”.’
And the winners are:
Intern of the Year
Keiran Batavia MPS | Interned at Pharmacy 777 Applecross, Perth
Supporting the profession, and its future (students), Mr Batavia juggled internship responsibilities with professional services, and during the pandemic, especially, engaged students, newly registered pharmacists, hospital and community pharmacists and those in rural and metropolitan areas, and now leads the WA Early Career Pharmacist Social Group.
ECP of the Year
Ayomide (MIDE) Ogundipe MPS | PhD candidate Curtin Medical School, Perth
The national MIMS Intern of the Year in 2019, Ms Ogundipe is completing a PhD investigating pharmacists’ adoption of technologies for advanced clinical services, which are challenged by the under-utilisation of cybersecurity protocols despite the increasing importance of linked and shared electronic patient data.
Pharmacist of the Year
Laura Stewart MPS | Proprietor Pharmacy 777 Karratha and Port Hedland
Through mining booms and busts, cyclones and floods, Ms Stewart has put rural and remote community pharmacy first for more than 17 years, helping expand health services, like the Indigenous pharmacy outreach service for Mawarnkarra Aboriginal Medical Services, which previously received its medicines from a supplier 1,600 kilometres away.
Lifetime Achievement
Professor Kevin Batty FPS | Director of Pharmacy, Curtin Medical School, Perth
With years of research interest in pharmacokinetics and the pharmaceutical science of antimicrobial drugs, Professor Batty’s 40-year career covers hospital pharmacy and academic teaching and leadership. His research supports practice changes and treatment improvements that positively impact the health of the most vulnerable in our populations.
