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Disruptive Technology for Patient Engagement
New technologies pave the way for innovation to drive business practices in pharmacy. Unfortunately, innovation appears to be a slow process in Australian pharmacies and as a result there is a pent-up frustration among young pharmacists that nothing is happening. On the other side of the coin there seems to be a majority of pharmacy…
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The Evolution of the Walk-In Clinic to Urgent Care Clinic
Australian pharmacy is now well behind its US and UK counterparts in the development of walk-in clinics and appears almost frightened, certainly reluctant, to build on this obvious platform that has proven successful in re-aligning many large pharmacy groups back to a balanced core health business. CVS in the US appears to be the main…
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Creativity and Innovation – In Pharmacy, both may need an injection
Creativity and innovation are terms constantly used in the world of business, but what do they really mean in that context? The dictionary defines creativity as: “the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination” For an actual example of creativity I turned to Seth Godin, and he did not fail me. “One of my favorite triumphs of all time happened…
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Courage is an everyday virtue
Students in a philosophy class were anxiously awaiting the start of their final exam. The professor had warned them that it would be one of the most challenging tests they would ever take. The teacher wrote one question on the board and said, “This is your exam. You have one hour to complete it.” One…
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Patient Engagement – Start With The Salutation
Health is a very personal business and trust is a very important element in the “engagement” mix as far as delivering information about conditions or medications, and the mentoring required when transferring knowledge and understanding. Engagement is a two-way process and involves system and style. For example, I have often used my knowledge of family…
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Blue Ocean Strategy – It Fits a New Pharmacy Model
Pharmacists have described the community pharmacy environment for as long as I can remember, as being restrictive and confined, no matter the physical size of the pharmacy. They call it the “four-wall syndrome” and it is, in fact, a form of depression. The one thing that characterises the profession overall is that there is little…
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Define Your Pharmacy Frustum
I was performing my regular reading of my emails when I came across the latest words of wisdom from Seth Godin. Seth always seems to read my mind, and his emails often cross over with a period of time when I may be thinking about a pharmacy problem, but finding difficulty in trying to express…
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Marketing Focus 1. The Year of the Entrepreneur 2. A Black Star 3. Pursuit of Business 4. Digital-Era Local Marketing 5. The Digital Divide
It’s official. 2016 is the year of the Entrepreneur. Those looking for leadership, financial stimulation and a “leg-up” from government or the mining industry will be disappointed. In both instances for them the cupboard is bare. For the innovators the potential for financial rewards will be substantial – but as rare as genuine entrepreneurs. …
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Ethical weight loss?
What an interesting link between Novo Nordisk and their pharmacist-led weight-loss support program! This is a clinical trial of a human glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and is a hormone that suppresses appetite. Using the former National President of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia as a brand ambassador might even add some credibility to enhance the uptake…
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An Orchestrated Attack on a PhD Thesis
When my PhD thesis was published on the University of Wollongong website (January 2016) the copyright act was used to selectively publish the research. In addition, journalists and lobbyists have attempted to discredit the research by disparaging me, the university’s processes and my supervisor. These members of the public do not counter any of the information…