The PJ Pod
Episodes
Pharmacy Inside Jobs: astropharmacy
18 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Pharmacy Inside Jobs, senior features editor Siobhan Chan talks to Li Shean Toh. Toh is an astropharmacist, who is currently base...
Speaking up: how to raise concerns in the pharmacy workplace
22 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This episode of The PJ Pod looks at the importance of speaking up whenever you have a safety or wellbeing concern, and how exactly to go about that. W...
What will 2026 hold for pharmacy?
08 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The PJ Pod’s final episode of the year looks ahead to our editorial team’s predictions for pharmacy in 2026. What big changes are coming for the ...
Migraine: what do pharmacists need to know?
27 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of The PJ Pod, senior editor Alex Clabburn shares insights from a recent expert round table meeting hosted and organised by The Pharma...
New chronic heart failure guidance: what does it mean for practice?
12 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of The PJ Pod, we explore the main changes and implications for practice of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NIC...
Pharmacy Inside Jobs: the pharmaceutical industry
29 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Pharmacy Inside Jobs, senior features editor Dawn Connelly talks to Sanjay Gudimetla. Gudimetla has worked within the pharmaceuti...
Pressures facing pharmacists in 2025
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From rising stress to expanding clinical roles, pharmacists are facing mounting pressures. Chronic understaffing combined with increased demand and l...
Benefits of patient and public involvement in research
01 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of The PJ Pod, we look at the benefits of effective patient engagement and speak to the OPERA 2025 shortlist and joint winners, to exp...
Pharmacy Inside Jobs: ADHD assessment and management
04 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Our new PJ Pod series — Pharmacy Inside Jobs — has been developed to inspire you to take the next step in your career. Whether you are a pharmacy ...
Pharmacy Inside Jobs: prison pharmacy
23 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Our new PJ Pod series — Pharmacy Inside Jobs — is aimed to inspire you to take the next step in your career. Whether you are a pharmacy student or...
First UK joint asthma guidance: what does it mean for practice?
04 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On the 27th of November 2024, the British Thoracic Society (BTS), National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and Scottish Intercollegiat...
Spotlight: MPharm ethnicity awarding gap rewidens
27 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Pharmaceutical Journal’s third analysis of MPharm awarding gap data has revealed that the percentage point difference between the proportion of ...
Disagreement and conflict in teams
19 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Disagreement and conflict are unavoidable realities common to all working environments, but for pharmacists and pharmacy teams faced with potentially ...
Spotlight: Palliative care access
28 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Despite national incentives and locally commissioned services designed to improve availability of palliative care medicines from community pharmacies,...
Looking back at 2024: a review of the biggest stories in pharmacy
23 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As has become tradition, The PJ Pod’s final episode of the year looks back over some of the most significant stories in pharmacy in the past 12 mont...
Your views on the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's royal college proposals
19 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In September 2024, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) put forward proposals to take on royal college status, pending a vote of the membership in e...
Spotlight: Safety of time-critical medicines
30 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
High levels of patient safety incidents related to time-critical medicines (TCMs) — medicines that need to be given or taken at a specific time — ...
Prescribing nature to boost mental health
17 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Green social prescribing, which can include activities such as community gardening, mindful walks and conservation volunteering — as well as 'blue' ...
How can pharmacists best support patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia?
19 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Over the last decade, the development of targeted therapies has significantly changed the way that chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is treated. Sur...
Changes in migraine treatment: how new classes of drugs can offer options for patients & prescribers
01 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this learning episode, we look at the latest developments in migraine treatment where new classes of drugs are starting to provide additional optio...
Medical drone deliveries: a viable option for the NHS?
09 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Drones are already being used to transport medicines in several countries around the world, including the United States, Australia, Switzerland and Rw...
Getting into research
28 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of The PJ Pod, we look at how pharmacists can become more involved in research, by hearing directly from those who have done just that...
Spotlight: Pharmacists in community mental health teams
09 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The ‘NHS mental health implementation plan 2019/20–2023/24’, published by NHS England in July 2019, identified a need for “new and integrated ...
Pharmacy under fire: managing medicines in war zones
26 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Please note that this episode includes discussions of war and injury that may be distressing to some listeners, with stories from pharmacists working ...
Revisiting 2023: a look back at the year in pharmacy
20 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As we reach the end of 2023, this final podcast episode of the year continues our annual tradition of looking back at the biggest stories to affect ph...
Becoming a pharmacist prescriber: the highs and lows
30 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
From 2026, all pharmacists will be independent prescribers when they first qualify. But that leaves a whole cohort of non-prescribing pharmacists alre...
Spotlight: Homecare services in crisis
24 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In November 2023, an investigation by The Pharmaceutical Journal revealed that two-thirds of patient safety incidents related to homecare medicine pro...
Spotlight: Deprescribing research
20 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The term 'deprescribing' refers to the tapering, stopping, discontinuing, or withdrawing of medications for the benefit of patients. It was first used...
BTK inhibitors: what pharmacists need to know
05 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors are used to treat cancers caused by defective B cells, such as chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, B-cell lymphomas...
Spotlight: the story behind the ADHD prescribing surge
28 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In June 2023, The Pharmaceutical Journal revealed that the number of adults in England prescribed medicines for attention deficit hyperactivity disord...
End-of-life drugs at home: closing the care gap
14 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Medicines play a critical role in ensuring that people at the end of their lives, and their carers, can manage symptoms, including pain, and remain co...
Spotlight: Questions over Pharmacy First
01 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The UK government has said it will introduce a ‘Pharmacy First’ service for England by the end of 2023, as part of a plan for recovering access to...
Psychedelic drugs: the new frontier for mental health
17 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
***Warning: this episode contains some potentially upsetting content about suicidal thoughts and miscarriage. If you would like to skip this part plea...
Spotlight: The truth about weight-loss injections
05 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
So-called ‘skinny jabs’ have been heralded as game-changers for weight management. Wegovy (semaglutide) is due to be launched in the UK imminentl...
Coping with the ‘Davina effect’ on HRT
20 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
TV personality Davina McCall has been at the forefront of a much-needed sea change in the awareness of menopause symptoms, leading to many more women ...
Spotlight: Ethnicity and the pharmacy degree
30 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this second Spotlight episode, we talk through an investigation that has shown the awarding gap between white pharmacy graduates and their ethnic m...
Effective deprescribing: getting the most from medicine
07 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this learning episode, we have enlisted the help of two experts to explore what it takes to deliver effective deprescribing and ask what pharmacist...
Spotlight: The ‘new thalidomide’
23 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the UK, three babies are still being born each month after being exposed to sodium valproate. This is despite the risk of foetal valproate spectrum...
Building bridges: pharmacists reaching out to help their communities
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The COVID-19 pandemic has starkly exposed how inequalities in health can be affected by factors such as ethnicity, gender or geography — and all the...
What will be the big stories in 2023?
16 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Will pharmacists go on strike over pay? Will medicines shortages improve? What will be the biggest clinical developments next year? The team unpicks ...
What does it take to become a consultant pharmacist?
24 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Two years since the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) took on responsibility for approving consultant pharmacist posts, we look at how these roles ar...
Anticholinergic drugs and dementia: a causal link?
05 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Anticholinergic drug use is on the rise due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the UK medicines regulator is also considering extending access to the antich...
Immune-related cancer toxicities: what pharmacists need to know
23 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Caitlin Killen, assistant clinical editor, and Alex Clabburn, senior editor, enlist the help of two experts to explore what the rise ...
NICE type 2 diabetes update: what do you need to know?
28 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, assistant clinical editor Caitlin Killen, looks at the practical implications of a recent update to NICE guidance on diabetes treatme...
Pharmacogenomic testing: coming to a community pharmacy near you
26 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What if you could pop into your local pharmacy to get tested for how your genes affect the way you metabolise drugs, such as statins or antidepressant...
Myth-busting acute pain and its treatment
21 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Which combination is most effective? Should I take this with food? The public often ask for advice on how to treat acute pain conditions, such as head...
Pandemic plus? The antibiotic resistance lurking in our rivers
23 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Carolyn Wickware, investigations editor, looks at the emerging evidence that UK rivers are becoming a dangerous ‘breeding ground’...
Can antiviral drugs turn the tide on COVID-19?
03 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There have been claims that COVID-19 oral antivirals, such as molnupiravir and Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir + ritonavir), will “change the course of the p...
Apprentice pharmacists: could they help reduce shortages?
06 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we explore the arguments for and against the planned introduction of degree apprenticeships as an alternative for the traditional MPh...
2021 unwrapped: the year in pharmacy
10 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In our last PJ Pod of the year, we eat some mince pies and ruminate over what has been a momentous 12 months in the history of the pharmacy profession...
Pale and stale: decolonising the pharmacy degree
11 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past few years, pharmacy student Adanna Anthony-Okeke has been leading a project to "decolonise" the curriculum at the University of Nottingh...
Will ranitidine ever make a comeback?
30 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Stomach acid-suppressing medicine ranitidine disappeared from pharmacy shelves two years ago, owing to fears of contamination with probable human carc...
Antidepressant withdrawal: why has it been ignored for so long?
26 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Until recently, the withdrawal symptoms some people experience after stopping an antidepressant were not recognised as a serious problem. However, th...
Meet the mAbs: the new treatments for vulnerable patients with COVID-19
30 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
There have been some promising trial results recently regarding the efficacy of monoclonal antibodies (or mAbs) in patients with COVID-19. In this po...
Pharmacy’s mental health crisis: building back better post-pandemic
11 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The stress and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a detrimental impact on everyone’s mental health; however, the impact on frontline healt...
Is Amazon Pharmacy really a threat?
14 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Amazon has been shaking up the US pharmacy market during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has just been granted a trademark in the UK. In this podcast, dep...
Shattering the silence on hidden disabilities in pharmacy
23 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This podcast uncovers the problem of ‘hidden disabilities’ in pharmacy, and what can be done to make the profession more supportive for those with...
Proregs, the pandemic and a 'new normal' for pharmacy training
03 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past year, the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic for those trying to enter the pharmacy profession has been profound. In this podca...
COVID-19 vaccines: your questions answered (part 2)
12 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With three COVID-19 vaccines approved in the UK, the focus is now shifting towards how the vaccination programme is being rolled out This podcast pi...
Cannabis on the NHS: a missed opportunity?
20 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Recently, it emerged that Billy Caldwell — the young boy who sparked a change in the law over medical cannabis — has received an NHS prescription ...
COVID-19 vaccines: your questions answered
04 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We asked PJ readers to submit their questions regarding the different COVID-19 vaccines being developed around the world, the phase III trial results ...
Post-pandemic pharmacy: a brave new world?
30 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This podcast celebrates the shortlisted entries to The Pharmaceutical Journal's 2020 writing competition. Hosted by executive editor Nigel Praities ...
MPharm awarding gap: how can BAME students be better supported?(part 2)
13 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Senior staff at two UK pharmacy schools - Reading and Wolverhampton - outline how they are tackling their ethnicity awarding gaps for MPharm degrees a...
MPharm awarding gap: what BAME students experience at university (part 1)
27 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Careers editor Angela Kam speaks with four ethnic minority students about their experiences of going to university to study pharmacy and explores new ...