Did you know that PPIs are one of the most commonly prescribed medications in Australia according to PBS data? Join Kristin for a deep dive into proton pump inhibitors as she chats with Gastroenterologist, Hepatologist and Gastrointestinal endoscopist, Dr Kostas Brooks.

What dose PPIs should patients actually be taking? How do you manage rebound symptoms? Listen in to find out.

Join Kristin as she chats with Dr Gaurav Sutrave to chat about emergening treatments for fungal infections.  Gaurav is a Staff Specialist Haematologist and Transplant and Cell Therapies Physician at Westmead Hospital, as well as the Medical Director for the Westmead T cell Therapies Laboratory.

Join Kristin and Nat as they chat with Shaylee Mills, The Rural Pharmacist.

Shaylee works in the beautiful Pilbara region of WA - google it - the scenery is spectacular! Although it is at least 17 hours drive from the nearest capital city (Perth) - Karratha is far from a small town and is home to around 22000 people. Shaylee shares what her world as a pharmacist looks like and some of the benefits (and challenges) of working rurally.

You can find Shaylee here and don’t forget to give Purple Pen a follow too!

Check out our latest episode as Kristin and Nat chat with Dr Jeremy McAnulty about the work undertaken by Public Health Units.

If you are from NSW, you may remember Dr McAnulty from the daily televised COVID updates  - Dr Jeremy McAnulty is a public health physician and Executive Director of Health Protection NSW at NSW Health, overseeing the statewide public health aspects of communicable disease control and environmental health. From 2020 to 2022 he headed NSW Health’s COVID Public Health Response Branch.

Join Kristin for a deep dive into meningococcal disease with Dr Anita Campbell.  Learn more about the various strains of meningococcal and their prevalence patterns in Australia and how that might impact the way we think about vaccination for meningococcal, using Men B as an example.

Dr Anita Campbell is a clinician researcher working as a paediatric infectious disease specialist and medical lead of the Stan Perron Immunisation service at Perth Children’s Hospital.

Join us for a very special World Pharmacist Day edition of the Purple Pen Podcast.  Recorded live during pharmacy wellbeing week at Monash Health, Nat & Kristin reconnect with Jane Booth and Karlee Johnston to talk about Pharmacist Wellbeing.  We explore the concepts of empathy, vulnerability, burnout and restorative supervision.

Our guest, Dr Karlee Johnston, is a clinical pharmacist with extensive experience in critical care and winner of the SHPA - Australian Clinical Pharmacy award in 2023. Karlee’s PhD focused on the experiences of Australian pharmacists during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a specific interest in burnout in this cohort. Following from this research Karlee has continued to research burnout and possible interventions to better support healthcare professionals in their work.

Join Kristin as she chats with Rebekah Moles about fever. Rebekah is an Associate Professor in Pharmacy Practice at the University of Sydney and she is passionate about quality use of medicines in paediatric patients. She has conducted research on the management of common ailments such as fever and cough/cold in young patients.

Join us as we talk with Dr David Liew about the underappreciated condition of gout, dispel some myths and talk about what's changed in recommendations. 

This podcast is in collaboration with Medcast and the Quality Use of Medicines Alliance, a provider of health professional education in Australia focused on the quality use of medicines. Check out their resources here. 

Arthritis Australia have further information on gout here.

The 2015 study by Philip C Robinson is here An Observational Study of Gout Prevalence and Quality of Care in a National Australian General Practice Population 

Kristin is joined by Professor Sanjay Swaminathan to talk all things MABs or monoclonal antibodies.

Dr Sanjay Swaminathan is a Clinical Immunologist and Allergist, he is a Senior Staff Specialist and Head of the Department of Immunology and Allergy at Westmead and Blacktown Hospitals.

Prof Asha Bowen is back to discuss Impetigo (also known as school sores), an infection of the skin caused by bacteria. Observational studies over four decades in northern Australia have found that Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children living in remote communities have the highest burden of impetigo worldwide.

Prof Asha Bowen is a paediatric infectious disease specialist and clinician-researcher at Perth Children’s Hospital and Telethon Kids Institute. She is Head of Department of Infectious Diseases at Perth Children’s Hospital.

National Healthy Skin Guidelines can be found here