Purple Pen Podcast

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, dispell 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

RSV season is upon us, and there are a number of new exciting developments in the prevention of RSV to discuss! Listen in, as Prof Asha Bowen chats to Kristin and Natalie about the newest innovations in RSV immunisation and vaccination. 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. ATAGI statement in the use of Arexvy in older Australians NCIRS FAQs relating to RSV Information relating to WA RSV Immunisation Program Information relating to the QLD RSV Immunisation Program Clinician Guide to the NSW RSV Immununisation Program

Join Kristin as she chats with A/Prof Esmita Charani, PhD, MSc, MPharm, MRPSGB, about the way clinicians think and feel about antibiotic use, and in particular how these beliefs can impact their response to various antimicrobial stewardship interventions.  Esmita also shares her research journey into broader human rights issues including bias and imbalance in low and middle income countries. Esmita is an Associate Professor at the University of Cape Town where she is undertaking a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellowship investigating intersectionality and AMR (2023-2027). In the UK, she is an Honorary Reader in Infectious Diseases, AMR and Global Health at the University of Liverpool. She is a visiting Researcher at Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen Norway, and Adjunct Professor at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kerala India, where she is involved in helping implement and investigate national antibiotic stewardship programmes. Her work in AMR has been recognised through the Academy of Medical

Join Kristin as she talks with Dr Mark Horowitz about how to deprescribe psychotropics like antidepressants, what is known about the causes of depression, what evidence is behind the antidepressants commonly used, what the symptoms of antidepressant withdrawal look like and the origins of the phrase "it's Bedlam here." The Maudsley Deprescribing Guidelines: Antidepressants, Benzodiazepines, Gabapentinoids and Z-drugs are available for purchase here:  https://www.wiley.com/en-us/The+Maudsley+Deprescribing+Guidelines%3A+Antidepressants%2C+Benzodiazepines%2C+Gabapentinoids+and+Z+drugs-p-9781119823025  This podcast has been released to co-incide with MedsAware which is SHPA’s Deprescribing Action Week, 18-24 March 2024 - find out more here: https://www.shpa.org.au/news-advocacy/MedsAware   

Have a listen as Kristin talks to Associate Professor Deshan Sebaratnam about psoriasis. Who does it typically affect, how is it managed and there can be a lot more to psoriasis than meets the eye. 

Tune in as Kristin chats to Pia Nairn, Clinical Audiologist at Lions Hearing Clinic to discuss Tinnitus, general advice for looking after your hearing and what to expect in a hearing assessment 

Check out a bumper episode of the Purple Pen Podcast with Specialist Cardiac Pharmacist and PhD candidate Adam Livori as well discuss what in, and definitely what’s out when it comes to cholesterol management. Adam is the Lead Pharmacist - Medical Specialties and Ambulatory Care at Grampians Health Services in Victoria and is the current Chair of the SHPA Cardiology Specialty Practice Leadership Committee. His PhD through Monash University is looking for patterns and predictors of clinical outcomes in myocardial infarction and atrial fibrillation. Connect with Adam via LinkedIn

Join us as Kristin talks to Natalie Raffoul (a pharmacist who now works at the Heart Foundation) to discuss the new Aus CVD Risk calculator and associated guideline. They also talk about the highlights of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress in Amsterdam this year.  https://www.cvdcheck.org.au/overview https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/heart-age-calculator 

Natalie is joined by Dr Ian Bilmon, a senior consultant Haematologist working at Westmead Hospital and Sydney Adventist Hospital to do a deep dive into haemochromatosis. They cover: What is heriditary haemochromatosis or iron overload? How is haemochromatosis managed? What other conditions are patients with haemochromatosis at risk of? Who else is at risk of iron overload and how is it managed?   Avid Purple Pen listeners may recognise Dr Bilmon who has been on our podcast previously.  Check out episode 70 where Ian goes back to Haematology Basics.

Kristin spoke with Dr Terri Foran to discuss Human papillomavirus (HPV). We covered: the HPV vaccine genital warts cervical cancer  changes to National Cervical Screening Program (pap smears)  

Kristin and Nat were at the 81st FIP World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences this week in Brisbane. They caught up with Professor Parisa Aslani, Paul Sinclair AM, Anna Packer, Dr Sami Isaac, Aagam Bordia, Dr Kaitlyn Watson, Dr Michael Stepanovic and Dr Stephen Eckel. Have a listen for a taste of what the congress had to offer.  Link to the Basel Statements - https://www.fip.org/basel-statements#:~:text=The%20Basel%20Statements%20cover%20all,practice%20through%20updating%20the%20statements.

Happy World Pharmacist Day 2023! Kristin and Natalie are joined by Tom Simpson, Executive Director - Statewide Hospital Pharmacy, Tasmania and President of the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA) to discuss opportunities for Australian pharmacists in 2023 and beyond.   

Celebrating our 150th episode with pharmacist Karl Winckel from Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, as Kristin and Nat ask Karl to dispel some myths about metformin. Resources related to this episode: Risk of fatal and nonfatal lactic acidosis with metformin use in type 2 diabetes mellitus (Review) Hospitalization for Lactic Acidosis Among Patients With Reduced Kidney Function Treated With Metformin or Sulfonylureas Risk of Fatal and Nonfatal Lactic Acidosis With Metformin Use in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Chapter 12: Assessing Drug Safety Assessment: Metformin Associated Lactic Acidosis