NSW & QLD Pharmacy: Legislation, OTC Sales, and S8 Medicines

This essay provides a comparative analysis of pharmacy practices in New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland (QLD), Australia, highlighting key differences in legislation, over-the-counter (OTC) medication sales, Schedule 8 (S8) prescription requirements, clinical decision-making processes, and team roles within healthcare organizations. It emphasizes the potential for medication errors due to differing state regulations, particularly impacting travelers. The study points out that while NSW has less stringent prescription requirements, Queensland's stricter legislation can lead to challenges in dispensing medications, especially when prescriptions lack complete information. The essay also discusses the role of clinical decision support systems in both states and concludes that improved communication between jurisdictions is crucial to mitigate medication errors and ensure patient safety across Australia. Desklib offers students access to this essay along with a wealth of study resources and solved assignments.

Running head: COMPARE AND CONTRAST OF NEW SOUTH WALES AND
QUEENSLAND
Compare and contrast of New South Wales and Queensland
Name of the student:
Name of the university
Author note:

1COMPARE AND CONTRAST OF NEW SOUTH WALES AND QUEENSLAND
Introduction:
With the growing prevalence of the disease in austral, the health care sectors play a
crucial in resolving the issues related to the disease. Australia has both public and private health
care sectors which operated simultaneously. Pharmacies of Australia played a massive role in
resolving the issue and reducing the global burden of the disease (Gallagher et al. 2018). The aim
of the paper is to compare and contrast between the pharmacy of New South Wales and
Queensland. The rationale behind choosing this topic is that in the current era, since the journal
of pharmacy practice and research suggested that in new southwest the prescription written by
doctors without the death of birth was legal but in Queensland was illegal (Bernaitis et al. 2016).
Therefore, it was a life-threatening incident which contributed to an increase in a patient safety
issue. This paper will illustrate the level of involvement in pharmacists in the sale of OTC,
prescription of the requirement for S8 medicine and team role within the organization compared
in following paragraphs.
Level of involvement of a pharmacist in the sale of OTC:
In the current era, the key issue identified is the difference between the legislation
between New South Wales and Queensland which causes potential harm of the disease or put
practitioner at ethical risk (Bernaitis et al. 2016).On the daily basis, the pharmacists dispense the
medications in accordance with the doctor’s order and consult with the patient for the usage.
Therefore, it is very much patient-oriented and the dispensing procedure is the critical part of
running the pharmacy is dispense with the consultation with the doctors. The main issue is that
is the birth date was not written in the prescriptions, it was accepted by the pharmacist in New
South Wales but not accepted by Queensland since the pharmacist involve in the dispenses of the

2COMPARE AND CONTRAST OF NEW SOUTH WALES AND QUEENSLAND
medicines and consult with the doctors. In daily process, the dispensing after consulting with the
doctor is observed where pharmacists are involved actively (Hope, Dickfos and King 2016).
The prescription requirement for s8 medicines:
The current atmosphere of each pharmacy is that due to the difference in the legislative
requirements, the prescription that was prescribed by the doctor of New South Wales was not
accepted by Queensland (Gisev et al. 2018). Therefore, doctors failed to comply with the
legislative requirements. Another major difference is that in the community practice, the S8
prescription retention is the legislative requirement in New South Wales for the safety of the
patient but it is not required to retain in the Queensland. However, the similarity between these
two pharmacies is that in both the cases, the requirement is additional security, record, and
accountability. The crisis was observed when the tourists were travelling in Australia and due to
different legislation; the travellers are at potential risk of medical error (Hoffmann, Bennett and
Del Mar 2017).
References to support clinical decision making:
Over the last two decade, there have been rapid advances in the information technology
where the increased use of the computer in the clinical decision making was supported by the
health care system. Therefore, widespread development in the evidence-based computerized
clinical decision support system is effective for making clinical decisions. In New South Wales,
for making decisions in the clinical circumstances, the support system was developed which
assist in prescribing drug practice such as drug selection and dosing suggestions for pharmacists

3COMPARE AND CONTRAST OF NEW SOUTH WALES AND QUEENSLAND
in order to avoid the drug allergies and side effect of the consumed drug (Hope, Dickfos and
King 2016). This system also presents in Queensland for making clinical decision making while
dealing with the patient. This clinical decision making support system is especially crucial for
the travellers who are travelling to a different part of Australia. This clinical decision making is
especially crucial for the patients who do not seek the assistance of practices and directly contact
pharmacist for clinical assistance. However, a study by Gisev et al. (2018), suggested that the
pharmacists have lower efficacy in terms of prescriptions, awareness and proper knowledge of
the drugs to provide it to the patient. Therefore, many medical errors frequently observed in such
cases. It was observed that because of this issue, the long-term relationship between general
practitioners and pharmacists as well as the patients. A study by Gisev et al. (2018), showed that
the prescription-related clinical decision making in the pharmacy of Queensland are frequently
observed in the older population who lived in Queen's land. On the other hand, in New South
Wales, due to less stringent legislation of pharmacy, the clinical decision making is easier with
references and it also leads to the less medication error during the dispense of the drug to the
patient.
Team role in the organization:
The team role in the health care sectors is crucial for treating the patient in Australia. In
the Queensland, the business of pharmacy is running by the collaboration of doctors and other
health care professionals and pharmacists (Hoffmann, Bennett and Del Mar 2017). Therefore, if
any minor inconvenience occurs related to the prescription of the patient, lack of proper
communication and lower self-efficacy leads to the refusal of dispense of the prescriptive drugs
to the patient. On the other hand, in New South Wales, due to less stringent legislation and
efficient communication, the prescribed drugs can be easily dispensed by the pharmacists.

4COMPARE AND CONTRAST OF NEW SOUTH WALES AND QUEENSLAND
Therefore, the issues can be resolved by communication between jurisdictions when legislations
were changed.
Conclusion:
Thus it can be concluded that despite being in the same country, due to differences in the
pharmacy and legislation for the prescriptions, the medication errors usually observed which a
crucial problem is for travellers who visit the different parts of Australia. On the daily basis, the
pharmacists dispense the medications in accordance with the doctor’s order. The crucial part of
this process is dispensed properly and ensuring the patient’s safety. Due to the stringent
legislation, the Queensland is more prone to the medication error compared to the new South
Wales. it can be resolved my communication by jurisdictions.
References:
Bernaitis, N., Badrick, T., Davey, A. K., & Anoopkumar‐Dukie, S. (2016). Quality of warfarin
control in atrial fibrillation patients in South East Queensland, Australia. Internal medicine
journal, 46(8), 925-931.
Gallagher, C.T., Mukhtar, F., Sarfaraz, T. and Chaar, B., 2018. Fit to practise? Processes for
dealing with misconduct among pharmacists in Australia, Canada, the UK and US. Research in
Social and Administrative Pharmacy.
Gisev, N., Larance, B., Cama, E., Nielsen, S., Roxburgh, A., Bruno, R. and Degenhardt, L.,
2018. A nationwide study of the extent and factors associated with fentanyl use in
Australia. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 14(3), pp.303-308.

5COMPARE AND CONTRAST OF NEW SOUTH WALES AND QUEENSLAND
Hoffmann, T., Bennett, S. and Del Mar, C., 2017. Evidence-Based Practice Across the Health
Professions-E-pub. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Hope, D.L., Dickfos, S. and King, M., 2016. Legal gems: Provision of Schedule 3
medicines. Australian Pharmacist, 35(4), p.71.