The AJP Podcast

Murdock tells the AJP Podcast’s Carlene McMaugh about the many times she has reinvented herself – from arriving in Australia from war-torn Iraq “with nothing, just hope” to the time she walked away from a job that refused to offer her, a single mother, the flexibility she needed to parent her son.

“I think people often think of pharmacists as people that dispense and dispense scripts and check scripts, but once they get to know me, they realise our impact goes far beyond the pharmacy doors,” she says.

“We’re often the first point of contact for someone who’s scared in crisis, overwhelmed or in pain, and we’re quite often educating or triaging. We listen a lot and we are often in people’s lives for a very long time, so we have conversations we support, we offer support, and we build trust and that’s where the real impact happens, not just inside the pharmacy but out in their community every single day.”

For Murdock, this means “hands-on” health delivery in Pascoe Vale, where she works, going to local clubs to do free blood pressure checks, getting involved with Rotary, overhauling her pharmacy to put in consulting rooms and talking at schools and local football cubs.

But it also means really being there when it matters to patients.

“I’ll never forget this lady who came into the pharmacy one late afternoon. I remember it clearly because she wasn’t a regular patient and she looked completely overwhelmed.

“She had a toddler on one hip and a script and her hand and her eyes looked quite puffy that she’d been crying and on paper at the time it looked like just a repeat for an antidepressant that you could have dispensed, but something just didn’t feel right and instead of just processing her prescription, I asked her gently at the time, ‘how are you? Are you okay?’

“And she broke down, she hadn’t slept, she hadn’t eaten properly and she’d just left the home because of an abusive partner.

“And she said to me, I didn’t know where else to go. So I came here and in that moment the pharmacy became more than a pharmacy.

“I brought her into the consult room, gave her space to breathe, linked her to support services, and I contacted her GP to coordinate the next steps.

“But more than that, I made her feel safe, seen, not rushed and not judged. And I remember her saying that I was the very first person who didn’t look away and that interaction has stayed with me forever.

“I believe behind every prescription is someone surviving something and sometimes the difference we make isn’t in the medicine, but in the way we choose to show up.”

01:13 – “Sliding doors” – why Murdock left one pharmacy job, finding her way to one which was “amazing”

02.23 – What people don’t realise about pharmacists

04:03 – “We’ve built a culture I’m very proud of where every voice is heard.”

04:46 – Helping a desperate customer

05:51 – Advice on handling difficult situations

08:07 – “I’ve had to reinvent myself quite a few times and it started early.”

10:54 – What keeps you going?

11.29 – “Balanced? What’s that word?”

12:49 – Transforming health care in Pascoe Vale

15:32 – Beyond the pharmacy walls

16:57 – If you could change one thing in the pharmacy profession, what would it be?

17:38 – Advice for pharmacists starting out

18:49 – “Balance doesn’t mean perfect proportions every single day.”

19:04 – AI and pharmacy

20:29 – How Murdock’s pharmacy evolves to meet the community’s needs

20: 51 – How does the future look?

You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription.

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“There is still a lot of people who are scared of AI,” says Andrew Bartlett, academic at the University of Sydney’s School of Pharmacy, and PhD candidate.

“Students are afraid to use it. They think they’’re going to get caught cheating.”

But “The way that university, particularly the University of Sydney works now, is that we have assessments to help learning and we have assessments of learning and AI is allowed in those assessments where it’s helping learning.

“I think there’s a misconception [that] whatever you put in is private and I don’t think it is. And so I think there’s some serious concerns that people need to take into consideration about what they put into AI.”

Bartlett has been having his students help him develop AI agents – “it’s a bit of a class project”.

“I have a pharmacy management tutor and we use it in the class, so I’ll give them a topic, say we’re talking about the pharmacy employment landscape in different areas of Australia.

“I might give each little table group a prompt and they put it into the agent and then collectively they’ve got to come up with a three minute presentation that they’ve got to teach back the class.

“So they quite like doing that. It means that there’s almost like an extra one of me accessible when they need it.

“When it comes to exam preparation as well, it’s got all my teaching resources in there, they can ask it questions, I can train it to behave a bit like I would in the way that it asks questions.

“So I’m accessible 24 hours, but I still get to sleep.”

01:12 – Bartlett’s background in pharmacy, and how he became interested in AI

02:18 – “I was seeing them use AI in classrooms and I was seeing that they were using it really badly.”

03:24 – AI misconceptions

04:37 – How students respond to the AI agents

06:48 – AI for patient counselling scenarios

08:50 – The key benefits of simulated patient interactions

09:39 – How to minimise mistakes

11:16 – “AI can be quite good at stepping someone through a reflective process.”

13:02 – Bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and real-world pharmacy skills

14:29 – How could AI change a pharmacist’s day-to-day role?

15:56 – “It’s interesting looking at the biases that come through.”

19:24 – What skills do pharmacists need in an AI-driven future?

21:35 – Getting up to speed

22:36 – The next frontier

25:17 – Embracing AI in business

You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription.

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“It starts with knowing your values, what you are looking for, that you’re willing to leave the comfort of where you are and start something new,” says Carlene McMaugh. 

In the latest episode of the AJP Podcast, McMaugh details the ways pharmacists can think about their career in 2025. 

There are opportunities to use new technology for searches and to brush up on marketing, she said. 

“You could type in your skills or your experiences and to ChatGPT and ask for suggestions about roles or you can even put your CV in and ask what options there are out there.”

Other highlights include: 

You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription.

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Carlene McMaugh

The AJP Podcast talks to the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia’s inaugural Aged Care Pharmacist of the Year – Neil Petrie, who has been working primarily in aged care, undertaking medication reviews for the past 25 years.

He has also owned his own community pharmacy in the past and semi-retired into aged care onsite pharmacy under the ACOP program.

With a father and uncle who were pharmacists, he says he remembers being about six or seven years old, “and going to the pharmacy after hours with my dad to make up an APC mixture, if I remember rightly, which was aspirin, phenacetin, and caffeine in it”.

“And I vividly remember my father saying, hold that needle and don’t drop it. And what did I do? I dropped it onto the footpath, didn’t I?

“So pharmacy’s been in my blood for a long time and I did have my own pharmacy for about 13 years, but I realised I wanted to do something a little bit different and when I had my pharmacy, I started servicing some hostels at that point in time and I really enjoyed that work.”

Petrie was one of Australia’s first pharmacists accredited to conduct medication reviews in 1998 – and ever since, his motto has been change.

He says ACOP will only increase in time, and “highlights our impact on direct resident care, medication safety, the quality use of medicines, and really system-wide improvements to medication procedures. So it really showcases us as pharmacists as a valued integral part of the care team.”

This is also highlighted, he says, by the sheer need for pharmacists’ services; discussing the most common medication-related problems in aged care facilities, given the amount of polypharmacy – and more importantly, inappropriate polypharmacy – underway.

01:13 – Neil’s introduction to pharmacy

03:42 – Aged care: a changing environment

05:11 – RMMRs and lack of rural and remote support: a disillusioning moment

06:14 – The responsibility of promoting ACOP

07:39 – Over 30-plus years in the field, what has changed the most?

09:29 – “How one person within the organisation can change an organisation overnight”

10:40 – The most common medication-related problems in ACFs

11:46 – Beginning an antibiotic stewardship program

13:11 – Taking the workload off the nurses

15:09 – “We have to get to a point where society says wherever medication is involved in therapy, there’s a pharmacist involved.”

17:11 – Thoughts on deprescribing

18:36 – The role of interdisciplinary team-based care

20: 54 – “How do you approach educating both residents and their families about their medications?”

22:07 – Practical strategies

23: 58 – “Polypharmacy is challenging.”

25: 06 – Neil’s vision for the future

29:26 – How can technology help?

32:18 – What advice would you give young pharmacists?

42:07 – A passion for antimicrobial use

You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription.

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Meridian Lawyers’ Chandrika Darroch joins PDL Podcast host, Amy Minion, and pharmacist, Georgina Woods, to discuss how to apologise when incidents occur. 

This episode of the Be Risk Ready PDL Podcast looks at how to apologise for an incident, and what to do and not do.  

The topics covered include: 

You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription.

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The Capital Chemist Charnwood is in the news again: 11 years after being named Guild Pharmacy of the Year, it has again taken home two of the final awards in the competition, being recognised for excellence in Community Engagement and Excellence in Harm Minimisation at APP25.

Co-owner Samantha Kourtis told AJP Podcast host Carlene McMaugh that government decisions, made without input from pharmacy, were a strong influence on her implementing a fee-for-service model.

“From the early days, I’ve been a huge advocate for charging [for] things,” Kourtis says.

“And 13 years ago I walked into this pharmacy. Everything was free, free blood pressure, free home delivery, free Webster packs, free consult with the baby nurse, free everything.

“And early on I was like, well, this has to stop.”

It simply wasn’t a viable business model, she realised – perhaps counter-intuitive given that Charnwood is one of Canberra’s lowest socioeconomic demographics, but as it turned out, customers are happy to pay what pharmacist expertise is worth.

She pointed out that she bought into the business in March 2010 – and that in October that year, the federal government announced accelerated price disclosure.

“I was in a real position where my business loan could have crashed and burned. The bank could have come in and taken it away because overnight the value of our businesses went down…

“And we’ve seen this happen several times over the last 10 years with what the government’s done.

“So it was my commitment to valuing the work that a registered healthcare professional did and my commitment to stopping the of services in pharmacy and then the financial pressure on me as a brand new young business owner that had to go, okay, well, I don’t want to pay my pharmacist award wage. I want to pay them well, because they do a really great job.

“So if someone wants to sit down with a pharmacist for a blood pressure check, they’ll pay for it. And that has gained momentum from then. And we were charging $15, 13 years ago, for a wound consult fee.”

01:40 – Becoming an award-winning pharmacy through the ups and downs

05:01 – What did winning the awards mean for staff and the community?

06:59 – Talking about harm minimisation in schools

08:07 – What it takes to being an award-winning pharmacy in this space

11:11 – Engaging with the community

13:22 – The viable business model

16:11 – Why $10 for a consult is “such a joke that is so disrespectful to our profession”.

17:01 – “Nobody complains really about the price.”

18:29 – What does being unsurprised in pharmacy mean to you?

21:10 – “I could not believe that the leaders in our country thought that [disparaging pharmacists over 60-day dispensing] was a good idea.”

22: 31 – “Actually, it doesn’t matter what I think. Doesn’t matter how I practise, doesn’t matter how much I care, things are going to happen. And that was quite freeing.”

24:11 – On being part of the scope trials

28:38 – What are the core values of your pharmacy?

31:35 – A challenge for pharmacists: be unsurprised

34:36 – A “vulnerable time” for pharmacy

You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription.

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Pharmacist Amanda Quek is currently working on her PhD, focused on developing clinical practise guidelines for deprescribing common medications used by older people.

She told AJP Podcast host Carlene McMaugh that it’s vital to take a “pragmatic personalised approach when it comes to prescribing and deprescribing”.

“This just means that understanding what matters to the person, the values and preferences and priorities for treatment, other expects that are important is to consider the person acceptability to deprescribing the support system life expectancy and ability to safely manage changes in treatment,” Quek says.

“And I think the shared decision making and clear communication between the patient and the healthcare providers is especially important.

“People need to feel supported and reassured, especially when stopping a medication they’ve been on for a long time.”

Quek notes that health professionals often note a lack of clear structure to support desprescribing.

“An effective literature review published last year found that around 70% of all clinical practice guidelines for treatment don’t include any guidance about deprescribing,” she tells McMaugh.

“And most of them focus heavily on when to start a medication but rarely offer advice on when or how to safely reduce and stop them.

“And there’s a huge missed opportunity.”

01:04 – What is deprescribing and why does it matter?

02:53 – “Deprescribing isn’t just about managing a medication list, it’s about looking at the whole person.”

05:43 – Gaps and challenges to address

08:37 – What do these guidelines add to the existing evidence that supports deprescribing?

09:56 – The team that put the guidelines together – including patients and carers

12:53 – “One of the most valuable things we learned from them was just how critical clear communication is in healthcare.’

14:06 – What does this feedback mean for pharmacists and for patients?

16:02 – How to share feedback

17:01 – “The main thing is just to remember for both patients and pharmacists is that deprescribing is a team effort.”

You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription.

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During NAIDOC Week, fourth-year pharmacy student and proud Wiradjuri woman Jesyca Pearson has told AJP Podcast host Carlene McMaugh shared a store of information for pharmacists.

A key issue is acknowledging the difference in cultures, says Pearson, giving a slew of tips which can help pharmacists understand not only their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients better, but patients from other cultures and with other needs as well.

“As a pharmacist we might write, for example, on our Webster packs, we have morning lunch, dinner, bedtime,” she says as an example.

“I think it’s important to steer clear of that, especially among mob patients, and instead of having those specific times have an actual time.

“So for example, 8:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 7:00 PM, 8:00 PM… Just so we can establish an actual time and avoid those medication issues at home because some mob might call their tea time morning tea, or dinnertime could mean lunchtime, and then we’re getting our doses at the wrong time of the day or we’re missing doses.”

Pearson also goes into the concept of cultural safety – particularly important for pharmacy as accessible health professionals.

“There’s just been a lot of distrust in the past and we’d hate for this to be ongoing, especially as pharmacist scope is expanding and we’re having such a bigger impact on our community’s health,” she says. “I think it’s very important to have the whole team trained…

“I’m a Wiradjuri woman, so I know my culture quite well, but I also know lots of other mobs have different culture and different traditional law as we call it.

“So I think as a pharmacist and as a pharmacy team as a whole, it’s important to know what land you’re practising on, know your people, know their history, and know their culture, which you do through talk.

“We always talk. You’ll find if you open up in conversation with an Indigenous patient, if you are kind, caring, open and willing to understand, most of them will be very, very appreciative to share their culture and tell you about it.

“Especially me being an Indigenous person. If I was to go and work in another state, for example, and I’m not familiar with the customs on that land, I would engage in conversation with the elders, with local people and just ask the questions, be upfront, be inquisitive.”

And there’s a lot to be learned from the international experience as well, Pearson says, such as Canadian First Nations programs which even allow OTC medicines and vitamins to be provided free of charge.

1.3—Where Jesyca’s passion for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health comes from

03:45—Why NAIDOC Week matters – especially for young mob

05:00—“To First Nations people, health and wellbeing isn’t just about being healthy or being sick.”

06:21—“We got all of our medicine from the land…. And when colonisation happened, we didn’t have that.”

07:51—The key conditions First Nations people are most likely to live with

10:02—On cultural differences

11.17—What does cultural safety mean in the context of pharmacy?

12:44—Taking steps towards cultural safety

15:27—“Practising with culturally safe care in the front of your mind is essential to developing those healthy relationships and having the best outcomes for our patients.”

18:23—Close the Gap and Aboriginal Health Services

20:45—“We can sometimes forget about programs that can be beneficial to our patients.”

22:41—Program limitations, and why pharmacists should be able to sign patients up to CTG… plus what’s happening in Canada

26:55—Integrating pharmacists within Aboriginal community controlled health services

29:14—“Expanding scope is pretty essential because we’re changing.”

31:06—Encouraging more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to work in pharmacy

33:43—Inspiring pharmacists and students

38:03—How can the pharmacy profession better support and empower Indigenous leadership within the sector?

41:00—Successful initiatives in the community

42:55—”Listen to your community, engage in those meaningful conversations and get to know your patients.” Pearson talks sorry business, men’s business and women’s business

46:10—Pearson’s vision for the future

You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription.

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“We know that a lot of the people who are going to come into the course are people who haven’t studied for a number of years,” UWA course director Amy Page told the AJP’s podcast host Carlene McMaugh. 

“So, we’re not wanting to test them on their ability to write an essay or to reference because we know that a lot of the time when people go back to uni after a number of years, they spend just as much time trying to work out how to use the referencing software as they do learning the content,” she added. 

“So we’ve designed all of our assessments to be authentic assessments; they’re around how to deliver a consultation or how to write a report or how to do your documentation. They’re not around how to do

To deliver on its aims, course designers engaged a number of different disciplines. 

“In our medication management review and aged care course, it’s being written not only by pharmacists,

Highlights include: 

You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription.

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“Because it’s very difficult, what sounds normal,” Jess Burrey tells AJP Podcast host Carlene McMaugh. “You have to then start hearing what does not sound normal.”

Burrey is a central Queensland pharmacist who has just become a prescribing pharmacist and joined as the central Queensland representative for the Queensland Pharmacy Guild.

In this podcast, she tells McMaugh what the training was like, including a practical placement at a local GP where she got “out of her comfort zone”.

“I structured my practical component where I did a combination of doing or I guess stepping into the consult room more often in the pharmacy and just kind of working with my general patients and doing a little bit more and then having discussions with my supervisors and then also going in and working half a day a week at the general practice,” she said.

“Initially I just sat in, watched them deliver consultation, kind of get a feel for how to really connect with patients and then fast forward, kind through a few steps and by the end I was going through the wait list where I live, we have a six week wait to see a GP.

“So I was going through the wait list trying to pick out patients that looked like they fell hopefully within my scope and I would ring those patients, see them at the general practice, and then my supervisor would come in at the end, review all of my work and then decide, yes, I’ve made the right decision about what I would like to treat and prescribe, and then they would just finalise off the consultant and write the prescription when I was not able to do so.”

Highlights include:

(01:15) – Burrey details the Queensland prescribing course

(04:12) – Practical placements

(06:15) – How Burrey is using her new skills

(07:25) – An opportunity to intervene

(09:55) – Five hours in ED – or an hour and a half wait in a pharmacy?

(11:38) – Staffing: “As a rural pharmacist, I am working with reality”

(15:07) – “Even while I was doing the training where I was practising on my patients, they were wanting to pay me”

(17:27) – “I think it’s really cool to have a stethoscope and to be able to use it”

(19:00) – What’s next for pharmacists?

(20:20) – Pharmacy services: Business as usual

(22:41) – The “slow burn” as pharmacists’ interest gains ground and begins to explode

(24:40) – What do patients think?

(25:42) – Advice for the hesitant

You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription.

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Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify