In Australia, a Pharmacist Only Medicine (Schedule 3) is a non-prescription medication available only from a pharmacy, kept behind the counter, requiring a consultation with a pharmacist to ensure safe and appropriate use due to potential risks or side effects, with examples like larger packs of paracetamol, some inhalers, and emergency contraception. These medicines need professional advice, unlike lower-risk "Pharmacy Medicines" (Schedule 2) that can be self-selected from shelves.
Pharmacist-only medicines
There are some over-the-counter medicines you can only buy after you have spoken to the pharmacist. This is a legal requirement to sell a Schedule 3 medicine. Pharmacist-only medicines are stored behind the pharmacy counter. You will need to ask for them.
Simple painkillers and cough remedies, for example, can be bought directly from supermarkets and other stores. Other types of medicine, such as eyedrops or emergency contraception, are available without a prescription but need a pharmacist's supervision, so are only available to buy from behind the pharmacy counter.
Pharmacist-only medicine — medicines that are available from a pharmacist without a prescription. These medicines are kept behind the counter at a pharmacy and need professional advice. Examples include larger packages of paracetamol and ibuprofen. Schedule 4.
What cannot be advertised to public: Prescription-only medicines and substances, such as weight loss injections and medicinal cannabis. Pharmacist-only medicines (other than those included in appendix H of the Poisons Standard).
Australia's most complained-about ads in 2025 included Kia's "zombie-proof" electric vehicle campaign (frightening imagery), Dettol (unhygienic behavior), and Caruso's Natural Health (inappropriate language/discrimination). Other frequent complaints involved Youi, Big W (blurred middle finger), Red Rooster (theft), and Pilot (sexual innuendo), with common themes being road safety, taste, and concerns for children.
Individual state pharmacy practice acts traditionally allow pharmacists to refuse to dispense if it is deemed harmful to the patient or if the validity is strongly questioned. To support healthcare individuals, including pharmacists, some states have developed healthcare law and policy to allow conscientious objection.
Including drugs which have been affected by the availability of 60-day prescriptions, the top 10 drugs by prescription counts were:
Prescription medicines and GP referrals
Community pharmacists can now supply prescription medicines for seven different conditions without you needing to see a GP, under a new scheme called Pharmacy First. This can include antibiotics and antivirals where clinically appropriate.
“Dx” for diagnosis. “Rx” for prescriptions.
There are three categories of medicine: Prescription-only medicines (POM), which may be dispensed (sold in the case of a private prescription) by a pharmacist only to those to whom they have been prescribed. Pharmacy medicines (P), which may be sold by a pharmacist without a prescription.
Moving on to the differences, General Practitioners typically have a medical degree and participate in further specialised training. Whereas pharmacists typically have a degree in pharmacy and complete a residency programme.
Pharmacist-only medicines (also called restricted medicines)
These medicines are kept in a restricted area. They're not available for self-selection from the pharmacy shelves, and you have to talk to a pharmacists before you can buy them. An example is Panadol Osteo® which has 665 mg of paracetamol in each tablet.
Pharmacists can prescribe for seven common conditions under the UK's NHS Pharmacy First service, including uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs) in women, shingles, impetigo, earache, sore throat, sinusitis, and infected insect bites/stings, with specific age/gender restrictions, allowing quicker access to treatments without needing a GP visit for these minor ailments.
Yes, in Australia, pharmacists can prescribe antibiotics for specific conditions, primarily uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs) in eligible women (18-65), and for conditions like impetigo, within defined state-based programs and pilots. This isn't nationwide yet, with Queensland, South Australia, and WA having implemented programs, while NSW, ACT, Victoria, and Tasmania have pilots running for UTIs and sometimes other minor ailments like skin conditions, but requires pharmacists to complete specific accredited training.
Conditions they can offer prescription medicine for are:
What Is the Closest Thing to Antibiotics Over the Counter? Under federal law, all intramuscular, intravenous, and oral antibiotics require a prescription from a health care provider. That said, there are topical antibiotics available over-the-counter for minor cuts, scrapes, and burns: Bacitracin (Neosporin)
Pharmacists can address primary care shortages, diagnose and manage many chronic diseases, treat minor ailments, reduce unnecessary emergency visits, and improve health outcomes. Beyond their qualifications, patients rank pharmacists as trusted healthcare providers in terms of honesty and high ethical standards.
The pharmacist will be able to recommend the best course of action on an individual patient basis, including by issuing prescriptions for antibiotics or antivirals where necessary.
Commonly abused classes of prescription drugs include:
Of the 1,635 drug-induced deaths in Australia in 2023, 340 or 21% were due to heroin (Table NMD2). People who use heroin have a particularly high risk of overdose, especially when heroin is used in conjunction with other drugs like benzodiazepines (for example, alprazolam, diazepam) and alcohol.
Legitimate refusal: A pharmacist can refuse to fill a valid/on-time prescription for a controlled substance if doing so would harm the patient, such as when the patient is allergic to the medication, the medication would adversely interact with other medications that the patient is taking, or the prescribed dose is ...
The moral question, "What ought I to do?" is "a request for moral advice and direction." The answer, then-the moral statement-is among other things "a di- rective for action." Such a directive, "which may be either a specific plan of action or a rule covering certain types of action," Ladd calls a moral prescription ( ...
Conscientious objection (CO) in pharmacy refers to the refusal to provide certain services based on moral or religious beliefs. Person-centred care helps to carve a way forward in balancing the duality of private conscience and public role expectations of the pharmacist.