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Saving Health – and Pharmacy if you can find it
I don’t know whether this is unique just to me or because I have a long and clear memory of pharmaceutical events since my entry to the profession in 1956. But I get very angry when I see a national TV program supposedly involving all of “health” where none of the participants are pharmacists! Nada!…
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EDITORIAL for 23 February 2015
Welcome to this weeks’ i2P (Information to Pharmacists) E-Magazine dated 23 February 2015. This week we have some very important reference material that has coincided with a PSA(NSW Branch) initiative. We were initially looking for signs that funding for clinical service pharmacists might come from the Australian government. Nowhere could we see anything positive! In…
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Downstream From Hospital Re-admissions
The US hospital system has finally discovered its pharmacy department in respect of its ability to help in the prevention of re-admissions – a very costly exercise. Of course, frustrated hospital pharmacists, both in the US and here in Australia, knew that this was feasible. However, the system here in Australia seems to be permanently…
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Precision Medicine – Pharmacy needs to get a move on
Primary health care teams in the US are currently being considered for the promotion of personalised medicine based on gene analysis. This has to be pharmacist territory, but given the time lag of pharmacist leadership organisations, Australian pharmacists may again miss the boat by not having decentralised training systems to be able to deliver suitable…
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The Huge Information Disconnect in Primary Health Care
The world is beginning to wake up to the resource that comprises pharmacy as the Medicines Use Review (MUR) program in the UK has just been “discovered” by health planners. Australia, of course, has had Home Medicines Reviews successfully in place for well over a decade now, but they are a well kept secret between…
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Time for common sense and good science to prevail in the Australian vaccination debate
In recent weeks we have seen a media led campaign that has resulted in sensible debate about vaccination being sidelined by hysteria and misinformation.An artificial dualism has emerged where people are cast as either ‘pro’ or ‘anti’.This mitigates against myriad other positions, such as being in favour of vaccination in general, but having concerns about…
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Pharmacist Jobs Destroyed by Automation?
We always knew that automation would be disruptive to pharmacy and displace pharmacists. Nobody really objected to that possibility because high initial machinery costs generally slowed down its introduction, giving time to make structural adjustments to pharmacist jobs. But it never happened! It was always assumed that the role of pharmacists would evolve to that…
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Seth Godin and The Productivity Pyramid
The following quotation comes from marketing guru Seth Godin who somehow seems to formulate the essence of a contemporary problem in a few short words. If you study the words carefully you will come to think that he is speaking directly to you as a pharmacist. If the cap fits….wear it! The productivity pyramid (give…
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Good news! A compound in red wine may help prevent memory loss
Scientists have found that resveratrol, an antioxidant found in red wine, peanuts and some berries, isn’t just good for our hearts – it can also help us fend off memory loss as we age. The results suggest that the compound may even be able to help patients with severe neurodegeneration, such those with Alzheimer’s disease.…
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PSA Media Releases – 1. PSA15 Registration 2. PSA (NSW Branch) Innovative Campaign 3. APF 23 Launch
February 18, 2015 Registrations now open for PSA15: Leading Pharmacy Innovation The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia has announced that registrations for its unique new conference concept, PSA15: Leading Pharmacy Innovation, are now open. PSA National President, Grant Kardachi, said the pharmacy conference market was becoming crowded and in response to feedback from the profession and the industry, PSA had developed…