1. The Educational Role of the Australian Hospital Pharmacist BACKGROUND The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA) standards of Practice for Clinical pharmacists state that the key objective of a Clinical Pharmacy service is to optimize patient outcomes by working to achieve Quality Use of Medicines [1]. Data from 95 hospital pharmacy services indicated that on average pharmacists spent: 47% of their time in providing clinical services to patients, drug information services and training and education; 36% of their time on the acquisition, manufacture and dispensing of medicines; and 15% of their time on managing the medicine and personnel resources of the pharmacy service and hospital-wide activities such as institutional drug policy management [2]. Therefore, education plays a pivotal role in the hospital pharmacist’s daily activities. This study was based off a pilot study- A review of pharmacist involvement in the delivery of medication education within QLD and northern NSW hospitals and patient groups Shelley Cooper, Ashlee Aitken, Rebecca Hundy (2011) METHOD An online survey was conducted using ‘Survey Monkey’ software and was sent to 249 Directors of Pharmacy in hospitals nationwide during the months of January and February of 2012. The survey was directed towards the types of medication education occurring in Australian hospitals (if any), who this education is directed to (patients, doctors, nurses, or other pharmacists) and when and how this education is carried out. At the end of the time scheduled for response the information was compiled and comparisons made on the medication education available by size of hospital, number of pharmacists working in these hospitals and departments present. RESULTS - -nbn. - The Mental health and emergency departments were considered the most lacking terms of patient education, while emergency department and general and orthopaedic surgery were considered lacking in education for health care professionals CONCLUSION Overall the results of the survey demonstrated that education for health care professionals and the utilisation of educational tools was occurring, to increase quality use of medicines. Patient education was directed at compliance and correct medication use. While the response rate was below the expected 25% the information provided still allowed identification of areas of importance and areas lacking. Future research may be directed towards educational tools for the non-English speaking persons and more focus to the eight national health priority areas to determine if hospitals are following the national direction for improving chronic disease prevention [3]. Less ambiguous questions would have provided better results and indication of current educational processes [1]SHPA standards of Practice for Clinical Pharmacists J Pharm Pract Res 2005, 35(2): 122-46 [2] O’Leary K..M, Allinson Y.M Pharmaceutical Review: Resource Implications for the Pharmacy Component in Australian Public Hospitals Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research 2006 36:(4) [3] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2011 Kristina Di Giambattista, Brooke Fletcher, Heng La, Kosar Latif, Bianca Watson, Tony Hall -A correlation was found between hospitals of 500 bed/treatment size employing >30 pharmacists. - The most common specialties available, or specialist hospitals, were Cardiology (57.4%), Oncology (61.1%), maternity (74.1%) and the Emergency Department (77.8%); while education was mainly focussed toward the cardiology and respiratory department -Informal discussions and written information are the most common tools used for patient education, and are also considered the most effective tools by pharmacists. - In contrast informal discussion and written information were also the most commonly used tools for education of health care professionals, however, case studies, workshops and tutorials were considered the most effective education tools for health care professionals -Of the 249 Directors of hospital pharmacists, 58 respondents were documented - Despite majority of hospitals being located in New South Wales the highest response rate came from Victoria with 17 respondents (29.3%)