Rate My Professor Andrew Stafford

Associate Professor Andrew Stafford serves as a Senior Lecturer and researcher in pharmacy at Curtin University, affiliated with the Curtin Medical School and the Faculty of Health Sciences. He holds the qualifications BPharm (Hons), MBA, and PhD, complemented by professional designations FPS, AACPA, and FANZCAP (Primary Care, Research). With over 15 years as a practicing pharmacist, his career spans community pharmacy in rural and metropolitan regions of Western Australia, New South Wales, and Tasmania, alongside roles in consulting as Director of Consultant Pharmacy Services in Western Australia and leadership positions such as Director of the WA Dementia Training Study Centre in the School of Pharmacy and Director of Dementia Training Australia. Currently, he acts as Deputy Director of Graduate Research in Curtin Medical School and contributes to the enAble Institute as a Dementia and Ageing Researcher. His professional journey emphasizes person-centred care, drawing from observations in clinical practice to develop solutions for medication-related issues in aged care settings.

Andrew Stafford's academic interests center on medication management, safety, and optimization for older adults, with a focus on residential aged care facilities and dementia patients. His quantitative research evaluates psychotropic medication prescribing patterns, the effectiveness of comprehensive medicines reviews like Residential Medication Management Reviews and Home Medicines Reviews, quality indicators for safe medication use, and associated health outcomes including mortality, hospitalization rates, and quality of life. Notable publications include 'Inappropriate prescribing in older residents of Australian care homes' (2011; cited 154 times), 'Drug-related problems identified in medication reviews by Australian pharmacists' (2009; cited 148 times), 'DOCUMENT: a system for classifying drug-related problems in community pharmacy' (2012; cited 144 times), 'Optimisation of medications used in residential aged care facilities: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials' (2020; cited 57 times), and 'General practitioners’ perceptions on home medicines reviews: a qualitative analysis' (2015; cited 57 times), among 27 publications totaling over 880 citations on Google Scholar. Stafford has developed training materials for consultant pharmacists and collaborates with organizations such as the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. In recognition of his excellence in Residential Medication Management Reviews, he received the 2018 MIMS Consultant Pharmacist of the Year Award from the Australian Association of Consultant Pharmacists.