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Pharmacy Anywhere – A System for Pharmacy Enhanced Primary Care
It is now well over 20 years ago that i2P proposed that community pharmacy develop a system we titled “Pharmacy-In-The-Home”. The reason for such a proposal was because of the predictions for an ageing population demographic, expanding and potentially reaching a figure of 28 percent of total population. We argued that an ageing population would…
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Dealing with distraction
Our digital lives might be making us more distracted, distant and drained, according to to research presented by the American Psychological Association. For example, even minor phone use during a meal with friends is enough to make diners feel distracted, and it reduces their enjoyment of the experience. Even people with their phones easily accessible…
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Pharmacist Prescribing – It’s Time!
Australian pharmacists lag behind their counterparts in other western economies (particularly the UK) in their scope of practice involving independent prescribing. In Scotland, for example, around 40 percent of pharmacists are registered as prescribers. The problem in Australia is a cultural one. Firstly, there has been disharmony within the pharmacy profession through disruption of the…
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The Difference Between Care and Service is Significant
I’m not bemoaning the current state of pharmacy, but what percentage of your time is spent doing what you went to pharmacy school to provide? How can we ensure that we prioritise care over service? Somehow, we have to re-educate our patients and customers that outstanding care is essential, and good service isn’t. We don’t…
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Marketing Focus Newsbrief – Australian Service Standards Costing Business Big Time
The customers have spoken. Australian customer services are consistently falling short of expectations. It is costing businesses pedestrian traffic, sales enquiries, revenue, profits, repeat business and customer loyalty. Many of the key contributing issues are cultural and systemic. On the road to “redemption” there are no shortcuts. However, the potential rewards are bountiful. Recent experiences…
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Self-Care….A Perfect Fit with Community Pharmacy
The concept of Self-Care as a tangible health tool has been formally recognised by Australian community pharmacy since the 1970’s. It’s original introduction was generated by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) through a set of information fact cards written in a patient-friendly format that formed up as a suitable reference point for pharmacists and trained…
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International Self-Care Day – an Opportunity to Embrace
Remember when the “Self-Care” cards were launched by PSA? Those were the days. As a profession, pharmacists decided that they needed to play a more meaningful role in patient care, above and beyond the supply facility. Never mind vocal engagement – these were written materials that quickly went into a back corner to gather dust.…
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The secret behind fake bipolar disease in children
ABC News, 5/11/12: “…Columbia University researchers found a 40-fold rise in office visits among youth diagnosed with bipolar disorder between 1994-95 and 2002-3.” In 1995, a new wind began blowing across the psychiatric landscape. The public wasn’t aware of it. But among professionals, it was big, very big. Children, including the very young, could, for…
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Countdown as Australian Pharmacy Begins the Transition as Part of a Global Network
In an i2P editorial dated May 29 2017, an analysis of the rift between Sigma and Chemist Warehouse was provided. Please take the time to revisit this analysis. While dialogue between the parties continued since that date, the inevitable has now happened and the rift has become a split. In the i2P analysis at that…
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Cannabis Confusion
Recent and quite mischievous reporting in the medical media is confusing the issues around our willingness to accept medicinal cannabis into the analgesic arena. I refer particularly to the “world’s longest in-depth community study” in which the four-year study of 1500 people examined the effect of cannabis on pain. The report goes on to say…