Resources were excluded if they (1) were not within the focus of the search strategy, (2) did not discuss development or implications in rural areas, (3) focused on particular pharmacotherapy or a medical condition with little reference to rural practice or the medication process involved (from Figure 1) and/or (4) described practices that were not applicable to the area of interest (e.g. irrelevant overseas model). The research coverage shown in Figure 2 suggests that there is overall limited published research exploring medication processes in rural areas of Australia. A total of 204 citations relevant

to the review were identified from sections D–J of Figure 2, with 49 of those articles included in this review. The key findings relevant to medication initiatives, provisions and support systems are categorised into key steps selleckchem in the medication pathway as illustrated in Figure 1. This is followed with subsequent reporting of pharmacy-mediated support systems and potential delivery models for pharmacy. The initial step involves prescribers making informed decisions on appropriate treatment for patients.[2] The

recent expansion of prescribing authority to a range of health practitioners aimed to provide continuity of, and timely access to, pharmaceutical therapy or medications. Since 2005, the Regulation has been amended to include provisions to endorse a

number of non-medical prescribers: surgical podiatrists, nurse AZD2281 manufacturer practitioners (NPs), physician’s assistants (PAs), ‘Therapeutically Endorsed’ optometrists and ‘Eligible Midwives’.[5] The details of these endorsements are summarised in Table 1.[9–13] In addition to medical doctors and dentists, ‘Therapeutically Endorsed’ (known as ‘authorised’) optometrists, NPs and Eligible Midwives also have PBS prescribing authority, which further improves consumers’ access to affordable medications. This allows the healthcare providers to prescribe a specific list of Australian government-subsidised medications relevant Adenosine triphosphate to their profession as of 1 January 2008 (authorised optometrists) or 1 November 2010 (NPs and midwives).[9,14] It has been claimed that certain inconsistencies exist between Commonwealth (national) Government PBS authorisations and state- or territory-based legislation. These inconsistencies exist because jurisdictions need to address specific local needs.[4] However, the peculiarities of the state and territory legislation and (national) PBS provisions in terms of prescribing can cause confusion among healthcare providers who are trained in the legislation of their home state or territory. The confusion is compounded by the nationalisation of health practitioner registration (July 2010), enabling health professionals to practise interstate.