Mrs Rachael Raleigh

I have been a hospital pharmacist for 12 years working across nearly all the clinical specialties. For the last 6 years, I have been working as an Advanced Pharmacist at Gold Coast University. As an Advanced Pharmacist I have been the pharmacy clinical lead for three major divisions of the hospital including the Emergency, General Medicine and Aged Care division, the division of Surgical and Critical Care and finally in the division of Women, Newborn and Children Services.

Working as a hospital pharmacist has afforded me many opportunities outside the realm of ‘traditional’ pharmacy.

In 2016, I was employed as the project officer with the Society of Hospital Pharmacists Australia for a project titled ‘Exploring the role of hospital pharmacy technicians and assistants to enhance the delivery of patient centred care’.

In 2018, as the Gold Coast Health representative I worked The Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation (GOLDOC) to develop the pharmacy and sport medicine services that were available at The Games, both in the village at the Polyclinic and at each venue across Queensland. I also worked in the pharmacy in the Games Village throughout the Commonwealth Games and have a certificate in Drugs in Sport from the International Olympic Committee.

Throughout COVID-19, I was the lead clinical pharmacist for the set up of the COVID-19 Vaccination Centres at Gold Coast Health. We were the first hospital in Queensland to receive vaccine. During this time with the other clinical leads, we set up a range of vaccination centres initially within the hospital, then across the Gold Coast in community settings including outreach services to schools, Bunnings and theme parks.

I have a Bachelor of Pharmacy and Master of Clinical Pharmacy with research through Monash University. My Master’s research focussed on expanded roles of pharmacy technicians throughout Australia. Throughout my career, I have been involved in many interprofessional research collaborations. Currently we are working on research focussing on medicine communication at transitions of care, especially from hospital to aged care.