Rate My Professor Tara Wheeler

Tara F. Wheeler is a Professional Practice Fellow and Clinical Pharmacist at the School of Pharmacy, University of Otago, located in Dunedin, New Zealand. She is a key member of the University Pharmacy Clinic team, which operates as an innovative model for addressing medication-related problems (MRPs) and advancing clinical pharmacy practice and education. The clinic provides free comprehensive services, including medication reviews, reconciliation, deprescribing, chronic disease management, vaccinations, and adherence counselling, primarily serving a diverse older adult population with an average age of 68 years, mostly New Zealand European/Pakeha individuals.

In a 2025 publication in Pharmacy (Basel), Wheeler contributed to data curation for the study evaluating 456 patient consultations over four years. The research identified 754 MRPs classified via the DOCUMENT system, such as non-laboratory monitoring (16%), patient requests (16%), dosing errors (too high 3%, too low 4%), adherence issues (underuse 4%, erratic 1%), undertreated conditions (9%), and untreated conditions (4%). Pharmacists issued 836 recommendations, emphasizing medication adjustments (23%), non-laboratory monitoring (15%), laboratory monitoring (12%), referrals (14%), and education (24%). Post-consultation assessments using the SF12V2 survey revealed notable improvements in health-related quality of life: Physical Composite Score increased from 32.42 to 36.08 (39% improved, 22% exceeding minimum clinically important difference), and Mental Composite Score from 44.08 to 48.86 (45% improved, 33% exceeding MCID). These findings underscore the clinic's effectiveness in optimizing therapies, supporting experiential learning for pharmacy students, addressing workforce shortages, and promoting interprofessional collaboration and technologies like telepharmacy.

Wheeler extends her expertise to public outreach, participating in the School of Pharmacy's Rainbow Pharmacy pop-up clinic on 16 February 2023 with Dunedin Pride, offering free hour-long medicine consultations in a safe space for the LGBTQIA+ community, filling all slots and creating a waitlist. She has also delivered practical advice on high blood pressure management via Otago Access Radio. Her work enhances patient outcomes and pharmacy practice.