[4] Studies illustrated

in Table 3 (section 3.3)[7,25,52] provide some examples of pharmacy-based sessional services; however, there is no formal establishment of such employment models across rural areas of Queensland. Further research into the sessional model for PARP activation pharmacists, including a remuneration pathway, is warranted as an option to enhance medication services with the existing rural pharmacy workforce. Enhancement of pharmacy support staff (pharmacy assistants and technicians) capacity and roles in medication supply and delivery systems may enable the available pharmacists to provide extended services such as medication management or clinical services, both in hospital and community settings.[22,28,43,60,64] The Regulation allows pharmacy staff some involvement in the provision of non-prescription medications (S2 and S3 medications), assembling/labelling

medications, data entry and daily stock control, under the direction and personal supervision of a pharmacist.[5,21,60] This requirement for supervision is the limiting factor in the utilisation of pharmacy support staff in rural areas, although a recent change in the Regulation, allowing ‘supervision’ via technology, such as video-conferencing,[5] warrants investigation. Other limiting factors include lack of a career pathway, liability issues and variations in workplace roles and training.[22] In certain countries, for example New Zealand, the USA and the UK, there are formalised frameworks and legislation BAY 80-6946 in place to allow pharmacy technicians to be more actively involved in the entire dispensing process under the authorisation of the supervising pharmacist.[22,65] Similar extended roles should be

explored in Australia, specifically in areas lacking pharmacists or with limited pharmacy workforce capacity, which would also require amendment of legislation, standardised training procedures and development of professional standards. This review drew on roles and practice initiatives in rural areas to improve the provision of medication Glycogen branching enzyme services along the medication pathway (Figure 1). The review focused on the legal framework and medication provisions of Commonwealth (national) and Queensland (state). The review also identified the value of pharmacists and potential pharmacy-mediated support systems to further enhance QUM in rural communities. The strength of this review lies in the review of both published literature identified through databases and unpublished (grey) literature identified through other online sources. The combination ensured a comprehensive review of the topics amidst the lack of research in provision of medication services in rural areas.