-
EDITORIAL for Monday 20 April 2015
Welcome to this week’s edition of i2P (Information to Pharmacists) for the week commencing Monday 20 April 2015. Well, this week it would seem that the whole World is talking about vaccine policy and the elements that are being attempted to be built in to those policies. Australia, it seems, with the help of the…
-
A Clinical Look at Pharmacy
As pharmacies move towards establishing vaccination clinics, pharmacy is experiencing major resistance from medical groups. This was predicted by i2P and in fact we commented that clinical pharmacists would come under scrutiny from a range of sectors that includes doctors, nurses, patients and government agencies, and that scrutiny would be harsher than what they would…
-
Is “The Conversation” Biased?
Editor’s Note: The “No jab, no pay” policy being developed at Australian Government level has brought many vaccine policy activists to the forefront, with polarisation to extreme levels between pro-vaxers and anti-vaxers and a range of other perspectives in between. i2P prefers to support the perspective of “safe-vaxing” as it is definitely not against the…
-
Some questions for Scott Morrison on the ‘no jabs/no pay’ policy
Dear Minister, It appears that your government may withhold Centrelink payments from parents who choose to not vaccinate their children, do so partially, or on a delayed basis. In light of this can you please answer some questions. There is no medical debate that adverse events can occur after vaccination. In some instances they can…
-
I’ve been thinking about SOS, shingles, and the v-word.
SOS is the worldwide signal for distress. When originally used in 1908, the letters did not represent words. Rather, the characters were chosen for the ease with which they could be telegraphed and deciphered via Morse Code. The signal employs perhaps the least ambiguous combinations available: dot-dot-dot, dash-dash-dash, and dot-dot-dot.The maritime call letters quickly evolved into an…
-
Something Fishy Going On?
I haven’t quite recovered from the surprise I received years ago when I found that the National Heart Foundation had awarded a fast food chain their famous “red tick” of approval for some of the “meals” they sold. On reflection, that fast food chain got rather good value for a $300,000 per annum investment, but…
-
More street smart ideas to drive success
A man went to a rabbi and asked, “Rabbi, you’re a wise man, how is it that you’re wise?” The rabbi replied, “Study and hard work.” Then the man asked, “What made you study and work hard?” The rabbi replied, “A lot of experience.” Then the man asked, “And how’d you get a lot of…
-
DNA – Does it Contain the Placebo Secret?
Some people feel better after dummy treatments, while others feel no difference unless the drugs are real. A new paper argues that the difference may come down to genetics. The first real, physical proof of the placebo effect came in 1978. Running a study on patients who had recently had their wisdom teeth removed, researchers gave some…
-
PSA Media Release – Pharmacists in Mental Health
April 17, 2015 Recommendation for greater pharmacist role in mental health welcomed A recommendation made in the Report of the National Review of Mental Health that incentives be introduced to include pharmacists as key members of the mental healthcare team have been welcomed by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia. The Report of the National Review of…
-
ASMI Media Release – New Fish Oil Study
New study reinforces importance of dietary fish oils for cardiovascular health 13 April 2015 – The Australian Self Medication Industry (ASMI) today said new research reinforces the importance of dietary fish oils for cardiovascular health. This was in response to a recently published review by the National Heart Foundation of Australia of studies of omega-3…