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Confusion reigns
Because of the rather appalling protection given by the 2017 vaccination campaign, I wonder where we will go with the 2018 version. There’s certainly mixed messages about the relative effectiveness we can expect. Interestingly, I posed this question on social media a few days ago. What might we expect? Will you get vaccinated? The responses…
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Pharmacy Professional Services – the Willingness to Pay
A recent study published by ScienceDirect discusses values of pharmacy professional services and the willingness to pay by consumers. The study was based on literature reports that specifically noted a willingness to pay a community pharmacist and had value established using the method described as Contingent Valuation Method (CVM). Some analysts have used the study…
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OMNS – Middle Ear Infection in Infants and Children
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service: Middle Ear Infection in Infants and Children by Ralph Campbell, MD We call those big flaps on each side of our heads “ears”; so where is the middle ear? “Middle ear” refers to the medical terminology in which there are three parts: The external ear, the middle ear – a space bordered…
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An Opportunity Opens Up – Will Pharmacy Leaders Grab It?
As pharmacists and coalface health practitioners we accumulate a lot of knowledge that other health practitioners do not have access to. This is because we are the only health profession that does not require a payment from a patient to access our physical pharmacy space. In addition, pharmacy culture has always allowed pro bono professional…
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Are your patients involved in a clinical trial?
A 90-year-old patient of mine has given me two invitations sent to her by her surgery and signed by her GP, to participate in the STAREE trial. She has (one year ago) diagnosed early-onset Alzheimer’s and was unsuccessfully given one of the usual drugs which worsened her mental state. Interestingly, before that prescription was offered,…
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Australia’s Health Care System Funding Needs Fixing
Australia’s health system funding is beginning to exhibit signs of stress. Is this by accident or by deliberate design? Health out of pocket expenses are beginning to climb and many common medical procedures are now funded by drawing down from a patient’s superannuation fund -sufficient monies to cover costs. Health advocates are concerned about the…
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OMNS – Fat is My Friend
(OMNS Jan 17, 2018) Throughout 2017 I kept saying “This looks like the year that the whole fat-cholesterol-heart disease hypothesis falls apart.” Well for once it looks like I was right. Today (I write on Jan 1st 2018) the annual review from Diabetes.co.uk carries 3 game-changing headlines from the past year: “Saturated fat myth challenged” “High carb…
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Scotland’s Pharmacist Practitioner Champions
Perhaps it is because of my Scottish heritage, but I am continually dawn to the Scottish business model for community pharmacy, funded and developed in a genuine partnership between community pharmacists and government. One of its lesser publicised components is the funding of “Practitioner Champions”. It’s not a lot of money (£300,000 funding for this year),…
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Depressive illness – can we get involved?
The challenge of mental health is something in which we are intimately involved. How many of our patients struggle with SSRI and SNRI medications, only to struggle further with their symptoms and feelings. It is well known that many drugs modify normal and abnormal behaviours by changing the amounts of particular neurotransmitters present within the…
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No Evidence? ….Who’s kidding whom?
I had the privilege last week of speaking on both days at the 4th Annual National Institute of Integrative Medicine Symposium in Melbourne. Twenty-five International and Australian speakers presented the latest evidence-based research, therapies, treatments and innovative technologies. The topic list contained many of the issues our patients are confronting each day: Cancer: Integrative Oncology,…