Mini Blog: 2 minutes with...Leah Hodgkinson

What is your current role/job/position? I completed my pharmacy degree in Australia and moved to New Zealand just over 2 years ago. I am currently working at Middlemore Hospital with Counties Manukau Health in South Auckland. My position involves working within the Acute Pain Service to provide MDT care to our post-operative and other patients with acute pain. I also am a part of the Well Managed Pain initiative which is a project is a multidisciplinary approach to managing complex inpatient pain. Our project aims to improve the co-ordination of care of patients with complex pain by working with them to improve their ability to manage their pain out of hospital and to minimise their risk of medication-related harm. My contribution to both of these teams largely involves review of medications with regards to quality and safety and this is with a pain focus as well as with a holistic view. Patient education and discharge planning for pain management is also a key responsibility. The rest of my time is spent working with one of our General Surgical teams to provide clinical pharmacy input.

How did you get into working in Pain Management? I actually started out working in pain management during my first year as a brand new pharmacist. This was when I was still in Australia and, despite being so junior, the encouragement of my manager at the time stirred up my interest and enthusiasm for the area. After moving to New Zealand I was assigned to a rotational position with the Acute Pain Service at Middlemore Hospital and have been there ever since. The role of pharmacists working in Pain Management is still developing in New Zealand and it is really great to be a part of this. The pain teams, pharmacy department and anaesthetic department are incredibly supportive of my position and I’m really lucky to work with such an amazing group of people.

What do you hope people might take away from your presentation? I guess I’m just hoping that what I talk about is useful and relevant to all people working in pain. I have put together this talk so that it includes the sorts of things I am often asked about. Hopefully this means that my presentation will answer the kinds of questions many others have often wondered about. Sometimes when working in a specialist area it is easy to forget how our medications might interfere with other issues for our patients. I hope this presentation will also get people thinking about the effects of analgesics outside of their use in pain. Lastly, I hope my talk might encourage other DHBs to consider introducing pharmacists into their pain management teams to help with the numerous medication-related issues involved in the management of these patients.