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People with high autistic tendencies see the world very differently
I once viewed an ABC health program where an eminent psychologist was commenting on different levels of the autistic spectrum. In particular, she referred to people who had Asperger’s Syndrome and how they all seemed to have high IQ’s and an obsession with specific detail. Her punch line was that many of these people had…
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Break your own rules
My friend Sam is an avid golfer. He plays every chance he gets. He also makes a practice of working out at the gym on weekends, and prefers to get an early start there. One Saturday, the forecast called for a warm and sunny morning with heavy rain developing by noon. Still, Sam kept to…
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Collaboration- What does it mean for health professions?
The new “buzz” word floating around the health professions is “collaboration”. In the same breath it is linked to other expressions such as “patient-centred homes” or “patient-centred neighbourhoods”. But what does it all mean – particularly when referenced in respect of community pharmacy? Starting with the dictionary terminology we find collaboration means: 1. “the action…
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There is Nothing Right About This Onslaught
It is time the pharmaceutical community should wake up and become aware of some of the biased agendas surrounding them. One of our specialist writers, Dr Judy Wilyman PhD has been surrounded by controversy because she dared to select as her PhD thesis subject “A critical analysis of the Australian government’s rationale for its vaccination…
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Confused over chromium?
It’s often difficult to get the true picture when you hear and read a sensational report about a nutritional supplement causing cancer. Erin Brockovich brought chromium into the spotlight because of the 2000 movie and book, in which there was shown to be a link between an elevated cluster of illnesses, including cancer, to hexavalent…
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Robots,dogs,sci-fi and intravenous drugs
I’ve been thinking about robots, dogs, sci fi, and the intravenous drugs hospitals are pushing into patients’ veins. 2030. A robot, a dog, and a pharmacist walk into a bar. A chatty bar tender learns that his three customers comprise the entire pharmacy department of the large hospital in town. When asked what each does, the…
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You can’t win if your head is not in the game
The late Yogi Berra was playing in the minor leagues for the Newark Bears before joining the New York Yankees for his Hall-of-Fame career. His manager told him not to swing at balls out of the strike zone. The manager said, “Yogi, next time you’re up, think about what you’re doing.” Yogi said, “I struck…
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Taking the Initiative with Co-Pay
Chemist Warehouse, as you would have imagined, has taken the initiative to discount the co-pay for PBS prescriptions by $1.00. The impact on a retail pharmacy like the warehouse model is not quite the same as for a community pharmacy, because budgets for retail pharmacies are geared for lower profit percentages combined with higher turnover…
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A Home Doesn’t Need to Have a Single Roof – Because it Might Need to be a Neighbourhood
The “buzz words” floating around the newly discovered world of primary health care are “Patient-Centred Homes”, a concept where a focus is generated on a patient through a triage process where patients are provided an efficient sequential introduction to the health resource most required by those patients under the one roof. Results to date in…
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Shopping
In this ever-changing world we have constant disruption. Beliefs that we once held for marketing concepts are forever changing as consumers react to the environment around them. And the online environment, while having many presentations and converts, is an environment that community pharmacists have yet to fully embrace and conquer. Particularly in the portrayal of…