Welcome to this special recap of Your Pharmacy Career podcast, proudly produced by Raven’s Recruitment - Australia’s experts in pharmacy career and locum services for over 30 years.
In this latest episode, Krysti-Lee Patterson chats with the incredible Lusi Sheehan, pharmacist, educator, and founder of The Wound Educator platform.
Episode Summary
In this inspiring episode ofYour Pharmacy Career Podcast, host Krysti-Lee Patterson sits down with pharmacist, educator, and founder ofThe Wound Educator, Lusi Sheehan. From her beginnings as a community pharmacist in Melbourne to becoming a national voice for wound care education, Lusi’s journey is one of passion, persistence, and a deep commitment to improving patient outcomes.
Her story is as much about embracing opportunities as it is about creating them — from launching pharmacy-based wound and compression clinics in Western Australia to developing accredited training courses for pharmacists. Along the way, Lusi shares how becoming a mum shaped her career choices, why wound care needs to be a higher priority in community practice, and how pharmacists can step up to fill this vital gap in healthcare.
Key Takeaways from the Episode
Prevention and early intervention in wound management can reduce chronic wound burden and improve quality of life.
Pharmacists don’t need to wait for permission to innovate — start small, take consistent action, and learn as you go.
Balance between business, patient care, and family life is possible with flexibility, planning, and support networks.
Research collaborations with universities can help gather evidence and support funding models.
Education and team training are essential for delivering consistent, high-quality wound care.
Pharmacists can develop wound care services within their practice, even without hospital resources.
Wound care is often overlooked in community pharmacy but offers huge potential to improve patient outcomes.
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Full Episode Transcript
Welcome to Your Pharmacy Career Podcast, proudly produced by Raven's Recruitment, the experts in pharmacy career and locum services for over 30 years.
Every episode is your Gateway. To new opportunities in the pharmacy profession, from expert advice to inspiring success stories.
We're here to spark ideas, guide your career, and help you achieve your goals.
Stay tuned, The next step in your pharmacy journey starts here.
Hi everyone, welcome back to Your Pharmacy Career podcast.
As you know, I'm your host, Krysti-Lee Patterson, and today I'm joined by a true innovator in the world of pharmacy Lusi Sheehan.
Lusi is a wing care consultant and accredited HMR pharmacist and the founder of the Wound educator.
From helping to establish pharmacy-based wound and compression clinics in Western Australia to launching an accredited training course pharmacist, Lusi has dedicated her career to improving wound care literacy in the community.
Lusi, thank you so much for joining us on the show today.
Thank you for having me.
Now, Lusi, I ask everyone the same question when they come on the podcast, and so I'm going to ask it of you as well.
What initially inspired you to pursue a career in pharmacy?
Sure.
My mom was a nurse and she influenced me to do something health related.
So I chose pharmacy and optometry as my first top choices.
And this was in Brisbane.
So I got those two offers and one Ash was was one of them in Melbourne.
So that was Bachelor Pharmacy with a commerce double degree and then this other one was optometry in QT.
So I thought pharmacy would probably be more general health re en mightment, more about health and health conditions, so it could be a bit more useful and it was also quite exciting for me to just explore a new city in Melbourne being 1, so just took the dive and moved over to Melbourne and started I'm in pharmacy, but I also read about the Korea path and part of that was care of patients through counselling and advising them on how to improve their health.
So that was appealing to me.
Yeah, that sounds so like a lot of pharmacists, actually, that I've interviewed on the podcast, there always seems to be a common theme of like helping people or that care part, which I think is really, really interesting.
Now, once you graduate and did your internship, have you always worked in community pharmacy or what was your career transition like in those early career days?
I did spend all of my career in community pharmacy, and that was after intern, I was working as part of the community pharmacy group in Melbourne and managed a pharmacy.
And then that's also where I started learning about room care through workshop and other health services.
So also part of my degree with Monash, we went to a placement overseas in Iowa, which is in the middle of U.S and went into a small independent pharmacy.
And it was very health focussed and services orientated.
They had lots of services, vaccinations and bone density , cardiovascular screening, and and sort of different areas.
And that would really attracted me into going into community pharmacy and focussing on those health services aspects.
So that was where my orientation was than in about more than 10 years ago now, and moved over to Perth and joined an pharmacy group in WA.
That's also very health-focused and patient services orientated.
So big focus on pharmacists being in the front of the consultation area, providing health advice and that that was great because that meant also like spending less time in a dispensary, which is not a part of pharmacy that I enjoy being in all day.
So certainly that way inclined.
But there is certainly a part of my career that I felt like, oh, I'm a bit stuck in this space of community pharmacy.
I do want to explore.
And I did actually consider going into hospital, but various factors and the owner at the time also encouraged me to stay in community pharmacy and upskill in an area that I was interesting and also offered to provide support in providing funding for the post-grand that it did with Monash in Br care.
So that also led me to stay in community pharmacy and focus on continuity of care, which what I found was really important to me is that continued care and building those relationships and trust with those patients and they come back to you and you get to know them over time.
And also the HMR consultancy, so that also allowed me to stay in community so that I can focus on the clinical aspects and moving patients in their home.
And yeah, so it did evolve over time, but certainly, yes, for the all of my career, I have stayed in community.
Well, you're very much like me.
I am a community pharmacy girl through and free.
I've never worked in anything else.
But I think community pharmacy, especially probably when we were like 10 years ago now, when we first started, it looked very different to what it does now, and I think it opens a a lot of doors that you'd probably don't realise when you're a student.
And I actually really love the fact that when you were feeling a bit stuck and you reached out and spoke to the owner or your manager of that pharmacy at the time, and they, yeah, mentioned to you, well, what are you passionate about and is there a way they can support you?
So I think that is the really amazing that you, yeah, happen to be working in a pharmacy that you so supportive of their staff and helping them find their passion.
But with the ball kales, is that something that you're always passionate about?
Like, I think it's something that like winds are, to most people are a bit gross.
And I don't, I've also heard some pharmacists say, oh, I don't want to touch patience.
That's why I became a pharmacist.
So was Winker something that you were always drawn to?
Or was it something that over your career saw that there was an opportunity ?
Yeah, absolutely.
So I mentioned that when I was a managing pharmacy in Melbourne, the group actually got Jeff Sussman, which is the professor of wound care, which I I see as my mentor and the guru of wound care.
So he did a workshop for us and he showed us acute chronicons management in the hospital that he was working at, in Austin Hospital and the team and of specialists and Allied health that he worked with to help with really chronic wounds, like Legos's diabetes, Foot, and all. Sorts of weird and wonderful wounds that I've never seen before.
And he also just hone down all those really basics of wound care, like moist wound healing, the use of antiseptics and the safe versus harmful use of potentially psychtotoxic antiseptics that I never really knew about.
Oh, I did learn a bit about that in pharmacy degree, but but it didn't really stick until he gave us that workshop and took us to the place where he actually provides a specialised wound clinic.
So that really opened up my eyes to how much I didn't know about wound care.
So like most pharmacists, I would be giving out in antiseptics and just plasters or whatever the patient wanted.
And a lot of them just wanted something really quick, like Band-Aid solution to help with covering it up or even just leaving it open to dry it out or just using alcohol wipes to sterilise the reach, which I know now that it is all a misconceptions and those are really traditional practises that are really outdated.
But back then, I was completely oblivious, sognearer to that.
So it was more of a transactional thing where I just give out what patients think they needed, because I didn't really know any better.
But since doing the postgrad degree in wing care, that really helped me understand how a wound heals and the fact is that an impact on healing.
And those medical care conditions or medications and how to allow the wound to heal in its natural environment that is ideal.
And that's what we now recommend the things that we recommend is based on assessment of this patient and not just the wound, but those factors, like those psychosocial factors, their lifestyle factors, and how adherent could they potentially be to treatment plans and what type of antiseptics to use?
And when is it appropriate to actually use a certain dressing or when is it unnecessary to refer them on for further assessments?
So those things I've learned through actually upscaling myself in this area and became more and more aware of those problems we've current practises in wound care, whereas I just didn't know about that in the past .
Yeah, I can definitely relate to that.
And I've done some, I've not done a post-ocrat inwing management like yourself.
I just, yes, sort out training from suppliers and things like that.
And I actually, I was in a workshop as well, many years ago by Gary and I had that similar realisation.
I was like, oh, wow, I probably, like you said, I probably did learn it at uni, but you can't remember everything from there.
And yeah, sometimes those things that might seem a little bit trivial.
Do you just, I guess, provide what the customer is asking for?
And I didn't really give it a second thought.
And so, yeah, learning about, yeah, just proper use of antiseptic sounds so basic, but it did kind of change my practice.
Abs. So once he did your post-grand , what was the trajectory like on after that?
Was it something that you then, like, obviously now you are the wound educator and very well known within our industry, about, yeah, upskilling pharmacists in W Wink care.
But I imagine that took some time after doing your post-grad, you don't just all of a sudden, okay, now I'm going to be the educator.
So what was your, I guess, impact after doing that , that post-grab?
Yeah, absolutely.
It was a bit of a journey to work out what I do after the degree.
So the intention was to help improve wound care practice.
So that led us to establishing a wound care service within the pharmacy that it was working at.
And we had a service- orientated model where we had more than one pharmacist on.
So there's often overlapping farces and two or more at a time and with other support staff.
So I'd say small community pharmacy with higher demographic of elderly population, and we'd get wounds of all sorts with, you know, just minor cuts and grazes to skin tears, burns, to post-op wounds, and even leg horses.
So a lot of that , you really saw the demand come through and was trying to work out how to utilise my knowledge from the degree and put those theory into practice because it doesn't actually provide you hands-on practice.
It gives you a lot of theory and understanding and assessments through assignments and case studies, but it's the hands-on practice that I really learnt from the most.
And so worked out a plan with the owner and the team on how to provide this service for our community and have a strong structure and protocol in place of the range of products and dressings that we have and how we assess the wound, having sort of things like photography available and documentation, consent for service forms and all of those in play, to be able to provide that at a level that we believe is a quality professional service.
So it was quite a bit of a time-consuming exercise or projection.
And through a lot of trial and error of working out on what is going to be accessible in the pharmacy, what's going to be affordable.
Because the course teaches you so much about different types of dressings available, about all sorts or conditions from chronic to acute.
But a lot of those wounds we don't see in the pharmacy and a lot of those dressings, we can't access from the community pharmacy perspective because it costs due to costs or because it's just not available for ordering through our regular suppliers.
So it's really working out those specifics and then creating a business plan of this and how to actually be value our time and put a service fee and the new range of dressings that we have that are advanced.
And the topic of antimicrobials that, you know, can't really be found in other pharmacies generally.
So that training for the team and education so that all the pharmacists and assistants are on board with that basic level of knowledge and understanding of what to do when patient comes in asking for plasters or an antiseptic.
So really having that team being on board with those messaging and then getting them to refer to the room care pharmacist and make bookings so that when I'm there, their bookings are done and I see the patients are going to consult room and it is a one-on-one dedicated time time .
We sometimes we' have patients walk in and then we try to also help them, but it just doesn't work as well if you're just in and out of the pharmacy, going to dispensary ch checking scripts and doing other services.
I really had to work out, you know, how to dedicate this time to wat and actually book out those times to be able to do that for patients properly.
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
When you talk about that, you really do have to find the time to be able to do that.
And then after you, I guess, establish this clinic and supported your team, obviously you had to do some education of your team to bring them on the journey as well.
Is that what led you to decide to launch the wound educator platform?
How, yeah, how long did it take you to kind of realise that this was, I guess, a gap in the market and in our industry with Ware education?
And yeah, why did you decide to do it really??
I guess is my question.
Yes, yes, it's a good question.
It is very much something that we need to ask you in because it's a lot of a lot of the time it's not a priority, where other things might be diabetes or cardiovascilities are the priority conditions where wound cats are sidelined and there's not a lot of training and education available.
They' worked through the group, which is some pharmacy77 that really supported training in this area.
So we're great at workshops for the whole group that allowed pharmacists to attend and have this hands on practice practice and workshop and experience and also getting support from companies with restings to help the pharmacists understand how to utilise them and then have having those documentation tools available that pharmacists are also able to use in their own teams and pharmacies.
So they started from there.
And then it grew from also a change in my circumstances.
You know, I had first, I had a kid and went on magnically to leave and came back and it was a very different priority for me where now I have to look after my family and prioritise my child.
Being the main carer, I can't just go into work and go back full-time and run the clinic.
So it was really trying to think about outside the square of how to utilize my time better to create more impact and also allow other pharmacists to do what I can do and And my time is limited.
My resources are limited.
And even if I see patients, you know, eight patients a day, five days a week, I'm still only able to see, you know, 40 patients a week.
So what about all these other patients who do need help and in all different areas and locations?
It also wanted to look into funding, because one of the barriers is that the issue of funding.
So patients are paying out of pocket with private, and it can add up to quite a bit.
Sometimes over $100 for a range assessment and treatment plan because of the cost of the treatment, as well as the dressings and products involved.
So looked into different areas of funding with private health, government and organisations, but a lot of roadblocks.
And one of the things was there's no data available to how pharmacists treat wound in the pharmacy because not the majority , actually, the very, very minority or handful of pharmacies actually provide wound care.
There's no evidence to suggest that we are providing this service in the community.
My patient didn't know about it either.
I'm sorry.
I decided to do a study of research around this to help collect and build the evidence as well.
So we did a research project with UW Hents.
We on the topic of primary wound care clinics and the experience of patients in community pharmacy in terms of wound care services.
So we had quite a few pharmacies trained up in WA and some of them participated in the study and we got patients to provide their experience and view of the service.
And we found out it was very positive.
So most of them said that it was an accessible service because it was at a flexible location that was convenient and closed home, and the appointment times were flexible.
They didn't have to wait two weeks to see the pharmacist for a war service and they can get their wounds to treat it promptly.
They also thought that it was a high quality service, and the pharmacists were well trained and competent and had good confidence in providing the treatment plan and also provided aftercare and continuing day care referral when necessary.
And they said it was affordable.
So even though they had to pay out of pocket, the level of service they received was really high, and they felt that it is something that was accessible when affordable for them and was valuable.
So it was really, really positive.
Some of the things that they didn't mention could be improved was the fact that there was no promotion or awareness around, you know these pharmacies can provide wound care.
So they weren't aware that, where to go, or pharmacists even provided a wound care service like w clean or wound dressings and treatment plans.
It was just unknown. And they didn't know where to go out then just wait at the GP clinic or go to a hospital.
So it was something that needed to be better promoted.
And I remember one of the patients said to us, well, it was to the interviewer was that they felt that every location should have a wound care pharmacist and service available because that's such a good service.
And that really stuck to me as , well, why can't we have this happen?
Because this is what the patients need.
And this is there's a demand and there's a gap for it.
And we know that a lot of GP clinics don't provide room careare services at the level that they would like to because they don't have the service resources as either and often they may have very limited nursing staff that are doing all sorts of things as well.
So, and they're not as flexible in terms of how many of the types of dressings that they can order and charge for patients where we have the flexibility and accessibility to do that.
So it was a more viable surface model in the community compared to other sort of services that are available.
And then being a part of that collaborative care team, we also sourced out other health services around the area that we can refer to if patients, if it's something outside of our scope of practice and they need further investigations.
But I would also invite them back to continue and reviewing them until they field or I know that they've been sans.
So hopefully that I answered your question about that, Krysti Lee.
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Yeah, absolutely.
And I think I thing that sounds really scary to me is how would you even approach someone to do a research project?
Like, that, for me, as you're talking about it, like, that just sounds like something a communing pharmacist couldn't be a part of, like that's something that you can only do when you have a PhD.
So, yeah, I'm curious as to , like, did you just reach out to the view university and say, hey, I've got this idea?
How do we do it?
How did that even come about?
Yeah, that's, it was because I was doing lectures for UWA and so they have two year master degree.
And then I was doing the wound care workshops for the students every year.
So I had that contact and the pharmacist coordinator.
I reached out to him about the idea, and they said, actually, the students do have a research projects that they need to do.
And if you put forward your proposal for the research topic, we can see if anyone would like to choose that or be interested in it and it had to go through those ethics munity committee to ensure that it is a viable research project.
And luckily, I was able to get that interest from the students and they did the bulk of the work, which is really helpful for me and I just provided patients in the contacts and the pharmacies that work interested in participating.
So it was certainly outside of my normal realm of practice, but it was through connections and collaborations and people who were just open minded about being studying something that hasn't been done before, because wound care is just a study that hasn't really been done in pharmacy at all.
So there isn't any information and evidence around.
And I hope to be able to provide more research around it.
And I have seen other pharmacists starting to research in this area as well, which is really brilliant to also see in and share.
But yeah, that allowed me to start really honing on the wound clinics and training other pharmacists, which is where I started the wound care educated platform to initially to just provide awareness and throwout information and knowledge that I knew about and wound care updates and training and events out there for pharmacists and other allied healths to understand and know about and get involved because it just starts from someone providing or sharing something that you they might often know before to get the interest in and start upskilling from there.
And then I did see a demand for even further education. And people would be asking, do you have a course?
Is there something that we can enrol in upskill our pharmacist to provide a wound care service?
And that's where I started researching into what can I do to provide my knowledge specific to the community pharmacy because there's's quite a unique space.
We don't have the same resources or facility as hospitals, aged care clinics.
So it's just, it's working around the barriers as well as the enablers in the community pharmacy environment. And utilise that to advantage in how to train team specific to that environment.
So that's how it all started.
Now, as part of your WK educator platform , I know that you've also had the ability to do some public speaking when it comes to education on green care.
I actually seen it up on the big stage at APP and I'm sure for some people that would actually be quite a scary experience to be talking in front of like thousands of pharmacists.
Is that something that comes naturally to you?
Or is that something that you've had to learn to embrace on your journey as a wink educator?
Definitely not.
My natural inclination to do public speaking, I think I was actually more, it was a daunting experience initially in the past.
So I would go back to when we gave a few years ago, before I even started the woundeducated platform there was opportunities to speak at certain organisations like Wound Australia events or there was also one that I remember from Channel 9, that I was asked to talk about the home medicine review program.
And that was probably the scariest one for me, but I wanted to take the challenge and the opportunity to share the benefits of home medicine reviews to the public.
And I was told that by Channel nine that it was going to be a live interview.
So there's no edits and you've got five minutes to just say what you say out there those messages with clarity and that's it.
So it was no second take or anything like that.
So that was probably the most nerve-wracking for me.
And I remember going into the room and there was the reporter journalist who was like on the screen it was like, yeah, probably just past COVID time so it wasn't actually a person was actually wasn't in the room and I was sitting on top of this chair that was really high and me being not a very tall person.
My worst fear was actually falling off that chair and trying to send out speak the messages with Claire, it became a more of a blur.
But it came out okay.
And I was just glad that, you know, I didn't make a fool of myself on live TV.
So after that experience, I think everything else seemed a lot easier.
In that sense, you had a better understanding of the audience.
I, when you got the phone pharmacist in a conference, you kind of know what they have gone through in experience and what they may need to know, because I've been in their position myself.
So nowadays, I think if opportunity comes up to speak, I'm not as, it doesn't feel as daunting and I feel it's an opportunity to provide and send and share those messages around awareness and improving health.
So, yeah, a lot of those come through collaborations and organisations that I've come to connect and work with and along the way, and they've been super supportive about educating pharmacies and upskilling assistants and the pharmacy team in this area and this space.
Yeah, no, that makes sense a lot of sense.
And I think too, at the end of the day, if anyone's listening to this and they've been asked to speak, it's usually because you've got knowledge and expertise in a particular area.
And at the end of the day, if you speak with confidence, like that will articulate through to the audience.
And if you are the expert, like you have something, something to share and I think if you do that from an authentic experience as well, like I've seen you present and you talk about your experiences and some of the wounds that you've seen.
So I think that's really powerful as well.
Yeah, I mean, a lot of it is real life experience.
So I'm talking about things that I've actually happened or people that have treated and the wounds that I have helped heal.
So these real experiences are easy to talk about because I've gone through them.
Z, I think it's also just knowing your content, knowing your audience and not make it about you or myself. Just it as far as it goes is, you know, I feel honoured to be asked to do this and take up this opportunity, but, you know, that's as far as it goes in terms of it's about me.
So it's, if anyone gets an opportunity to speak out or share something they're that I'm really passionate about, then I would say, just do it and not wait until you're 100% ready .
No, that makes a lot of sense.
Now, you spoke earlier in the podcast about, let's sort of why you decided to go down this wing care journey.
And one of one of those reasons was becoming a mum.
Now, I've started my own business, so I understand what's involved.
I am not not a mum, but I've seen my sister go through it.
And I feel like, yeah, becoming a mum world running a business is not necessarily the easiest thing to do.
And so from your perspective, what does, I guess, balance look like for you?
And now that you've been doing it for a while now, did starting the wound educator, actually give you the flexibility that you wanted out of it?
Well, I would ask you to imagine a circus act forilly.
So imagine you just walking, trying to walk across a tightrope and then you've got a five-year-old that's yelling to him like, my mom, like play with me.
And all day long on repeat.
And then you've got a one-year old trying to climb up and anything you sees, like a monkey and you're trying to keep him safe at the same time.
You're like, some days you get across the line and you can have a breather at the end of the day and feel unscathed, but there's other days that you just get by, survive and, yeah, wait until bedtime's here.
And it is like a roller coaster, like a lot of parents will say.
So the flexibility in that sense is there in that I can choose when and where I want to work.
But balance is still a juggling act.
I would say it's certainly not less work.
I'm doing more work in the home.
I have dedicated work hours in the pharmacy womb clinics, which is great.
So I go there and forget about anything else and I just focus on the patients and the womound consults.
But at home, there would be, I would be working through the hours, the late hours or the mornings and the weekends, and it's not always ideal.
I try to set boundaries where I hope, you know, this is just my family time or okay go at holiday I try not to think about work, but there are times where there is deadlines approaching and I do have to do those work hours in those late hours and letters ideal times.
So, yeah, I do enjoy the autonomy of being able to choose what I do and how I do it because it can, it's on my terms and I do it the way I want to. , but it's certainly not a easy, easy feat outside.
No, definitely not.
But I think, yeah, I think from what you've described, you have been able to achieve what you set out.
I love the fact that you're still able to work in the community pharmacy, doing your care clinics on the set times that you allocate for it and then be able to still, you have that quality time with your family and fit in the other bits and pieces within.
I dislike asking the question, like, how do you balance work life?
Because I just think that's just life in general.
And there's always going to be times where it's probably a bit more hectic than others.
But I guess for someone that that's listening to this and is maybe thinking that they want to try doing something themselves.
So whether it's they want to start a HMR business or move into education or do something completely different.
What would be the advice that you give to those pharmacists thinking about stepping into doing something new and creating their own niche?
Go for it.
Like, don't wait for permission.
You know, you can reimagine your role and there's no limits to how far that goes.
If you see a gap and it frustrates you, well, like the chances are, you know, it's probably a gap that's worth feeling.
And if someone hasn't done it before, be brave and be that first person to try it and, you know, be humble enough to learn and keep learning.
And what have you having a support team as well, having a supportive, like, work environment or supportive family, which I was lucky enough to have with my husband and his family and my family.
So they are huge support to me.
Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have made this work.
If, you know, you have people like that would need meetings and I would , I know, send my kids over to my in laws who would happily take them any time, that I need them also daycare or other one of them's at school so that's easier.
But once they're both at school, hopefully, you know, also you'll get a bit more me time as well.
So, you know, it's like, it's very difficult to get that as parents.
But yeah, once things settle down and you kind of get into the groove and have a structure of how youre plan out your activities and your days and how to start that plan of getting in those appointments or collaborating with those people and then once it's established, it does get easier and it does fuel more streamlined or easier to digest.
In the earlier days, it can be a real mess and very unpredictable and unc.certainty.
But if you've got the appetite to do it, then I'll just say go for it and never wait to be like really 100% ready because you never might be.
I feel that consistent action.
Small steps is more important than perfect action and that's something I've learnt over time is just to try and get something out there.
Because sometimes I might think over a post a million times and reedit it until I feel like it's perfect, but I've just spent, you know, five hours on something whereas I could you justize that time better toreat something else .
So utilise your time wisely, but work on those things that really value and a part of your mission, I'd say, I hence down 100% agree with you.
And I love the advice that you give on don't ask permission because I think that's something that is really important to highlight because I think you were very lucky that you were working in a pharmacy that is very supportive and and understands the vision.
And so that probably was a little bit easier for you in starting out.
But I think through maybe other pharmacists that maybe not getting that support and don't let that get you down and just do it anyway and give it a try.
I don't know if it was the same experience for you, Lusi, but like even with me starting something new, there's always going to be people that will give you reasons why you shouldn't do it and do things.
But then I'll get a little message from someone on like LinkedIn or social media from someone that I don't even know.
And like to say thank you and I'm sure you get the same from people that you've impacted.
And I think that's, it's like, yes, this is why I do what I do.
Yeah, it's right. .
Yeah.
It's words of encouragement.
And like if you don't have a supportive team or there's organisational problems, then, you know, go find somewhere that is going to support you. Or create an environment where you can support that mission and vision, I'd say.
But yeah, absolutely right.
There's always those people.
And sometimes it's ourselves, like saying, oh, I can't do this because of a million reasons.
But if you think there's a will, there's a way.
Oh, yes, absolutely.
Yes, can definitely re relate to that as well with the little voice in your head head that will always be telling you why you can't do something.
Now, Lusi, I think your career journey has been a really powerful reminder to pharmacists that you can still stay rooted in community care of community pharmacy.
So I can still hear the passion that you have for patient care and doing that through a community pharmacy, you've been able to do that with your green care business and now educate others on how to do that as well.
But before we wrap up the conversation, is there anything else that you'd like to share with our listeners that maybe we haven't touched on yet?
I would say that the thing about, I think, wounded care is that it's not only just that in itself, I think oftentimes, I'm utilising my skills as a HMR pharmacist, and I'm looking at the patient's medications.
And one of the things is like lower leg oedema.
And I've had doctors also refer to us because they just can't manage their oedema and they don't know, they don't have the tools, like compression theraprapy or certain dressings and certain products to help manage the patient.
So we would work collaboratively with them to manage the patient's medications and needema, and sometimes they are often just prescribed diuretics for fluid in their lower legs when it should really be the main treatment is compression and that then also it helps to heal that wound.
Otherwise that wound may never heal when it becomes a chronic ulcer that is just going to affect that person for a very long time.
So that is a burden that is a big problem with in Australia and internationally.
And wounds Australia does have a lot of information out there about, you know, surveys for patients.
And it also says like about 33% of patients.
I think it's okay to leave a wound to dry out.
And I'm thinking in reality, we see more than that.
We see probably more than half of people saying, that.
So those factors, I think we can use our kinical skills to understand the patient.
And then sometimes my recommendation as part of a home medicine review is to actually look at those medications and go, well, is this actually treating the underlying cause?
Because lower leg oedema is not a systematic systemic issue with fluid.
It's not about food fluid overload.
It is a local Venus insufficiency problem with a car muscle pump with their circulation.
So how do we talk to doctors about that?
And one of the ways is just asking them to review that and suggest reducing the dureic or stopping it if it's not used for bailure orgal disease and looking at the skin care, the wom care, and the compression as the first line treatment.
And a lot of the doctors have actually become more aware of that now and started to reduce and stop those freeome eyes and go, oh, let's try the compression and let's try, what, you know, I to send them to you and see work out, you know, what's going to be the best plan for them in terms of compression.
So finding something that is tailored and suitable for the patient, and the patient is willing to use.
So those things, like, I think as pharmacists, we, it's not a standalone condition.
I think it is a lot of things that pharmacists can utilise all our learning and skills knowledge to assess the patient and not that just their wound.
Oh 100%.
Yes.
It's so much more complex than just, oh, here's just a wound, right?
There's a lot more going on, especially when there's people with diabetes or other comorbidities and things like that, it can, yeah, have quite a huge impact.
And even once it gets to a chronic wound stage, which I think pharmacists can play a huge role in preventing wounds from becoming chronic.
That can also cause a lot of stigma and issues with people.
Like I've seen some patients, like not go out because they're worried about their wounds, because they might be a bit smelly or something like that.
So it really can have a huge impact if we as pharmacists can prevent those wounds from getting to that chronic stage in the first place.
Yes, exactly.
I think that's your spot on there. A lot of this is where pharmacy’s role is key in preventing from wound infections and from delayed healing and chronic wounds.
So that's exactly what my mission is to help these pharmacists understanding that role and how to work with our allied health to improve those outcomes .
Amazing.
Well, thank you so much. Much, Lusi, for joining me on the show today to our listeners.
If you'd like to learn more about the wound educator or to take part in one of Lusi's courses, you can visit wound educator website.
We'll have their links in the show notes, as well as I'd love to get the link to that study that you did if we can share that on the show notes as well, Lusi, I think that would be really interesting to read.
And I'm sure, Lusi, you'd be happy for people to connect with you on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.
Thank you.
Yes, I'm very short to any ones so free to share Amazing.
And now, Lusi also has an amazing deal for our listeners.
So for anyone listening that would like to so sign up to the wound care course for pharmacists, we have a 20% off coupon code.
So that will be in the show notes and you can use that to get 20% off her course .
Thank you so much, Lusi, for joining us.
Thank you very much for having me.
Thanks for tuning in to Your Pharmacy Career Podcast.
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Final Thoughts
Lusi Sheehan’s journey is a timely reminder that community pharmacy can be a powerful hub for specialised services — if we have the courage to explore beyond the traditional dispensary role. Wound care may not be the most glamorous area of practice, but its impact on patients’ lives is profound.
Through a combination of advanced education, collaborative practice, and sheer persistence, Lusi has carved out a niche that benefits her patients, inspires her peers, and elevates the profile of pharmacists in primary healthcare. Her message is clear: you don’t need to wait for the perfect moment or for someone else to lead the way — start where you are, with what you have, and keep learning.
And perhaps the bigger question for all of us in community pharmacy is: what gap do you see that you could be the one to fill?
