Welcome to the Monday December 1, 2014 edition of i2P (Information to Pharmacists E-Magazine).
It’s suddenly the festive season and so far I am as unprepared as usual.
Where did the year go?
This week we have additional articles in our Pharmacy Landscaping project as we tick off obvious inclusions for the future pharmacy that has to be delivered now!
In looking at existing models that are actually delivering we report on Celesio, a large German wholesale/retail pharmaceutical complex that recently purchased Lloydspharmacy in the UK.
Lloydspharmacy specialised in delivering clinical services but needed a large injection of funds to modernise and upsize its operations. It has been selected as the brand for all of Europe by Celesio.
About two years ago i2P reported on the Lloydspharmacy health village which was a pilot for a health precinct of mainstream and complementary medicines.
The model also included an Internet doctor which recently was taken up by Terry White Chemists here in Australia.
That element has been retained by Celesio and it will be interesting to see whether it can be replicated successfully in Australia.
We have also prepared an article titled Perceived Hurdles for Clinical Services which includes recent research by the Pharmacy Department at Sydney University.
We compared the Sydney University report with our own research and a Scottish study.
We all arrived at similar conclusions except for the interpretation of patient concerns and trust level.
i2P had experienced similar concerns but found that it was hesitancy due to poor marketing and communication techniques.
Patients do not trust new pharmacy services because they have not had previous experience.
Read and find out how to overcome this basic minor block to clinical services.
We also follow on from the last edition in regard to “connected glass”.
Westfield shopping centres are introducing online retailing into its physical retailer mix and it is sure to be controversial.
The model should work for pharmacy, particularly as an aid to introducing new services.
This is also future BIG competition, so read and work out how you will cope.
Barry Urquhart talks about Extreme Discounts in his current article and details why this model will always fall into problems.
There may be some insights there for you but there is always an alternative if you seek it out.
Loretta Marron debates the ASMI initiative on rolling out a restricted level of complementary medicines as one method of reducing national health expenditure.
Both the US and to a certain extent, Australia have followed the illness model of medicine.
It is probably time to change the model to a wellness version, and for that you will need complementary medicines, particularly nutritional supplements.
While you can argue forever about the dangers involved with either version, you cannot argue that the illness version has caused human injury and misery with its deplorable record of iatrogenic disease.
On the other hand, complementary medicine has a few isolated problems but overall is regarded as safe.
You can’t even find a middle ground by mixing the two because interactions can occur between the two.
So I believe it is time to change and pharmacy will have an expanded role in Self Care to help deliver on this shift in thinking, because, as was identified by government a decade ago, pharmacists are the only health professionals with the training to understand and deliver.
We also have some general interest articles as well as PSA and NPS media releases.
Our congratulations go out to Peter Waterman, the PSA Director of Public Affairs and feature writer for Australian Pharmacist, who has been named as the Business Media Journalist of the Year at the Publishers Australia Excellence Awards.
It’s great to see pharmacy journalism recognised
Over the Christmas and New Year break i2P will be running at about half of its volume until mid-January.
This is the first year we have not had a rest break until January 31 – it must be a sign of the times.
When we first started back in 2000 there was literally not enough news to report for a daily/weekly publication. Now it’s difficult to keep up the pace.
Enjoy your read for this week.
Editor
1 December, 2014