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Your Dispensary – Core Business Could Evaporate
This year will be “crunch time” for most community pharmacies who have not yet decided on adopting disruptive technologies as a means of improving the “bottom line” of their pharmacy. I am thinking specifically the decision to purchase a robotic dispensing machine. It is almost a “no-brainer”. Robotic dispensing equipment has been available to pharmacy…
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I’ll never forget what’s-his-name
A man had gone to a circus as a small boy and decided to return years later. He was sitting in a cheap seat when an elephant came along, reached up into the stands, wrapped his trunk gently about the man and carried him over to the best seat. The man turned to his…
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The State We Are In
NONE of our so called representative bodies have accepted ANY RESPONSIBILITY for the downright dismal and depressing state the so called Pharmacy profession finds itself in. The Pharmacy Guild- represents Pharmacy owners who would only comprise some 10-15% of ALL the 29,150 Pharmacists on the AHPRA register (Nov 2015 figures). The Guild has a major…
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Marketing Focus – Essays on Management & Marketing
HOLD BACK THE TIDE A measure of just how much some union officials are out of touch is the current mass media advertising campaign being conducted by the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association in Western Australia. In essence, it is a personal attack on the West Australian Premier, Colin Barnett, and his legislative initiatives…
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Make points with persuasion
We are in the thick of the most unusual political seasons I can remember. Who would have imagined the slate of hopefuls that spans the spectrum? And what will it take for the candidates to convince voters that they should lead the country?Qualifications? Sure. Campaign promises? Perhaps. Appearance? Doesn’t hurt. The best opposition research? Not…
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Fast Food Leading the way – Annihilate Dispensing or Enhance it?
The fast food industry is rapidly moving to replace employees with robots to eliminate payroll, health benefits and human unreliability. It will prove to be a template for pharmacy evolution and it’s under way right now. Also, it’s very likely that, within your professional lifetime, you’re going to see a huge revolution in robotics. It…
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Embracing the Empowered Patient
The year 2016 ushered in a range of problems that caught health care providers generally unprepared as events unfolded. We all tend to keep in our own silos and do not necessarily take on an awareness with what is happening in the world of doctors, nurses and allied health practitioners unless they impact us directly…
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Community Pharmacy or Commodity Pharmacy?
Are pharmacies becoming a glamorised outlet for widely advertised complementary and over-the-counter medicines that require no skill to “pack and wrap”? Sales based on an advertisement in weekend papers (all heavily discounted of course!) and sales of nutritionals into China are driving our professionalism underground. Pharmacists who have never entertained supporting a particular complementary medicine…
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The Lessons From History – From Someone Who Has Lived It
Two weeks ago we published an article called Make the Right Turn at the Next Crossroads . It was based on a story written by a senior US pharmacist named Truman Lastinger and published in the US magazine, Drug Topics. Because Truman Lastinger and I are of similar vintage I could strongly identify with the period…