The Australian Medicines Handbook (AMH) has welcomed a new nursing representative to its Editorial Advisory Board, stepping into the role previously held by long-serving member Dr Helen Calabretto – a move that reflects AMH’s continuing support for the evolving needs of nurses.
For nearly 30 years, the Australian Medicines Handbook (AMH) has been an important resource to support the quality use of medicines in Australia.
The AMH and its Children’s Dosing and Aged Care companions are widely used by pharmacists, doctors, nurses and other health professionals, and are recognised for their concise, trusted and evidence-based guidance on medicines tailored to real-world practice.
To ensure its content meets the evolving needs of nurses, the AMH has appointed Nurse Practitioner Peter Cirocco to its Editorial Advisory Committee – a group of experts who help editors ensure that AMH content reflects current evidence and practice.
“The AMH has been in my clinical toolkit since I started my undergraduate studies many years ago, and has been utilised almost daily since then,” says Cirocco, who is the first Nurse Practitioner on the Editorial Advisory Committee, filling the gap left by the retirement of long-serving member Dr Helen Calabretto RN, RM, PhD, FRCNA two years ago.
Based in Adelaide, Cirocco brings extensive clinical experience across critical care, outpatient pain management, mental health services, and multidisciplinary clinical
education. He works at CMAX Clinical Research and is also the South Australia Chapter Chair for the Australian College of Nurse Practitioners.
Changing role
As Registered Nurse prescribing expands, access to clear, consistent and independent medicines information as found in the AMH becomes increasingly important in day-to-day practice.
“Not only is the Nurse Practitioner role an evolving role that is ever growing into
widespread practice at all levels, there is further expansion with the recent Registered Nurse Prescriber changes,” Cirocco says. “This is ultimately what I am both consulting and representing here (at the AMH).”
He said the AMH was useful for nurses in that respect because it provided a broad range of drug information including patient counselling points and precautions relevant to nursing responsibilities.
The AMH is designed to support clinicians in situations where clarity is essential – whether reviewing a person’s current medicines, considering dose adjustments, or determining when a medicine may need to be changed or discontinued.
Cirocco interests in clinical pharmacology, client and patient advocacy and complex health care management will help the AMH Editorial Advisory Committee meet the needs of users, including nurses.
“This interest in clinical pharmacology has helped me have a resolve to understand a lot of the evidence-based rationales around when (and when not to) utilise medications,” he says.
“This especially includes the administration aspect of these medications, which is something that needs to be considered by prescribers and dispensers alike.”
To support the quality use of medicines, prescribing decisions should be guided by the best available evidence, clinical expertise, and professional judgement. Every new release, AMH provides up-to-date information on medicines for safe and informed practice in a rapidly evolving clinical environment.
Cirocco sees the opportunity to contribute to the AMH as another way for nurses to be heard and appreciated in the quality use of medicines conversation.
“I want to ensure that our role as nurses is both understood and appreciated in the medication pathways,” Cirocco says.
“We as nurses can also learn from our amazing peers to bring focus to the primary goal here: safe and effective medication management for our patients.”
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