Lecturer in Pharmacy Practice and Research Fellow
PhD, BPharm, MSc, GradDipCommPracPharm
| Contact Campus | Sandy Bay Campus |
| Building | Pharmacy Building |
| Room Reference | 4012 |
| Telephone | +61 3 6226 1966 |
| Fax | +61 3 6226 7627 |
| Juanita.Westbury@utas.edu.au |
After graduating with a Pharmacy degree from the University of Sydney, Juanita was commissioned as a Pharmaceutical Officer in the RAAF working in Wagga Wagga, Newcastle and Adelaide. In 1997, she completed the Graduate Diploma in Community Practice Pharmacy at the University of South Australia and become involved in the QUM Domiciliary Medication Management Review Trial, most elements of which were incorporated into the current HMR model funded by the Federal Government. This work and the Grad Dip made her very interested in the medication needs for older people.
England beckoned in 2000 and Juanita was appointed as a NHS pharmacist advisor in Southern Cheshire. She worked in GP surgeries and was also the lead for older people’s issues. At the same time, she completed a Masters of Science on compliance/concordance in the older age group at the Department of Medicines Management at Keele University in Staffordshire.
Whilst in the UK, Juanita became concerned about the level of psychotropic prescribing in nursing homes; particularly the use of antipsychotics to manage the behaviour of older patients with dementia. It is known that these medications are widely prescribed for this indication, yet the evidence for effectiveness is not robust and health warnings have been issued in the US and the UK linking use with increased mortality. In 2011, she was awarded a doctor of philosophy degree at UTAS. Her PhD thesis title was "Roles for Pharmacists in improving the Quality Use of Medicines to treat behavioural disturbance in dementia".