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A Glimmer of Hope – A Tentative Leadership Initiative
A glimmer of hope has begun to emerge for those clinical pharmacists who would like to work in a GP environment engaging with patients, GP’s and other health professionals in a practice setting. On the 24th August, the PSA organised a forum on “Pharmacists in General Practice” and had as a keynote speaker, UK pharmacist…
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‘Marketing Based Medicine’ steamrolls ethics and science in proposed Victorian vaccine laws.
What some people are terming ‘Marketing Based Medicine’ has just won a huge victory in the state of Victoria, trampling rough shod over medical ethics and good science. The Labor government plans to exclude children from daycare and kindergarten, who are partially or fully unvaccinated, marking a big departure from the more considered approach of…
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Peer- Reviewed…..really?
The Editor-in-Chief of the Lancet has recently declared that “much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with obsessions for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness”. Interesting,…
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Five Reasons Why a Business Fails To Work as a Team
I have just read a great book written by Patrick Lencioni which provides an insight as to why teams fail to achieve great things. The book, ‘The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” has been based around an online assessment in which nearly 15000 participants undertook. The outcome of the assessment was that 68% of teams…
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Strengthening the “Core” of Pharmacy
UK pharmacists have a similar media nemesis to Australian pharmacists in the form of the Daily Telegraph. That newspaper is not, however, owned or controlled by the Murdoch group. The UK Pharmaceutical Journal reports that: “The front page of The Daily Telegraph on 10 August 2015 read ‘Boots, Tesco and Superdrug to get access to NHS medical…
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Create Your Own Brand Challenge – or Spring Clean the one you already have
Starting with a blank sheet of paper gives you a sense of having a fresh and clean starting point, but no sense of who you are, what you do or where you are going. That requires a bit of thinking, planning, decluttering and logical projection. It’s the same process whether you are designing a brand…
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Global Supermarkets Will Affect Australian Pharmacies
Australian supermarkets are set to share the market with a new global entrant -the German-based Lidl supermarket, which is a discount entrant sharing similar styles and philosophies as Aldi – the other German supermarket which has established itself with a very successful market share already in Australia. When you view a Lidl store it’s hard…
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Pharmacy Paradigm Shift is Occurring – Vision Still Needed
Australia needs a new vision for care models and funding to ensure healthcare remains sustainable and accessible into the future, according to a report published by the George Institute recently, following consultation with various health organisations. “The report recognises the growing burden of chronic disease as a driver in increasing health costs. Evidence of this…
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UK Supermarket Reversal – Offloading Pharmacies Instead of Acquiring Them
Sainsbury Supermarkets occupy the Number Two position in the market share chart of UK supermarkets. But it has shown a decline in market share and turnover in the last financial year, and this has been attributed to the discounters Lidl and Aldi. Aldi had the greatest impact with its sales increase being to the order…
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Pharmacists – Who Works for your Best Interests?
Now that the dust has settled around negotiations for 6CPA and that word “certainty” has crept back into the vocabulary once more, we are supposed to now relax and get on with the job of future-proofing the profession of pharmacy. But what “certainties” can we count on? With the current business model still having a…