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A great sense of humor makes great sense
We’ve all heard that “laughter is the best medicine.” It makes people happy and links us together. Humor and laughter strengthen our immune system, boost our energy by destroying boredom and keep stress at bay. Humor is equally beneficial at work, as it increases creativity, enhances communications, builds morale and minimizes workplace conflicts and tension.…
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Basic Patient Engagement
The term “Patient Engagement” is appearing in pharmacy media at an increasing rate. But what is meant by this term and is there more than one form of patient engagement? The quick answer is that the term is not new, but has been expanded to include patient sharing between various health professions. Patient engagement has…
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Apple’s Genius Bar – an Opportunity for Pharmacy
We have written about the Apple Genius Bar before, and its transformation into a “health bar” in the UK-based Lloydspharmacy. We have also previously commented on how similar it was to the pre-1960’s pharmacy counter and how it was private enough then for pharmacy patients. For Apple, the Genius Bar has been a great success story…
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Print your own medicine – a $9 million 3D printing research and development hub opens in Melbourne
If I was back in my early 40’s, and including the energy levels I had back then, I would certainly not be wasting my time about the latest political “spin doctoring” from pharmacy organisations or government. It is so much a waste of time. I would be looking to harness the latest in scientific research and…
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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 Patient-Centred Primary Care Collaborative
This article contains an evidence-based report on US physician-led Patient Centred Primary Care (PCPC) “Homes” that are likely to be modeled and supported here in Australia. i2P would simply like to expand the debate for pharmacist-led models that will initially evolve from clinics that will be established in community pharmacies. Many of these clinics will be…
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Top Vitamin D Research of 2014
Higher vitamin D blood levels may reduce the risk of many types of disease including autoimmune diseases, cancers, cardiovascular disease, dementia, diabetes mellitus and falls and fractures. Research into the health effects associated with vitamin D continued to be strong in 2014. The number of publications with vitamin D in the title or abstract listed…
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What is Primary Health Care?
The term is used commonly within all health professions globally. Australian doctors continually make the claim to be the natural leaders of any primary health care initiative within Australia, often disruptively. But Primary Health Care is bigger than any single profession no matter how inflated its point of view. Just how did the term arise,…
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Patient Engagement Involves a Knowledge Exchange
Knowledge exchange occurs when a clinical pharmacist uses best evidence to inform a patient on which direction to take to create a good health care outcome. Knowledge exchange is about sharing knowledge freely to make a difference in health outcomes for patients. During the knowledge exchange the pharmacist uses mentoring processes to act firstly as…