-
An Evening With Manuel Cardoso – The Man Who Helped Reform Portugal’s Drug Policy
There was a big turn-out on rainy Sydney evening for drug law reform meeting. Tuesday 5th June 2018. St Stephen’s Church, Macquarie Street, Sydney, for “An evening with Manuel Cardoso – the man who helped reform Portugal’s drug policy”. The take-home message to get through to our politicians: decriminalisation is now proven to save lives, money…
-
Encouragement Unleashes Potential
Thomas Edison’s teacher said he was a poor student. His mother was furious at that characterization and took him out of school and taught him at home. Edison gave this account of the incident in an interview published on Nov. 29, 1907: “One day I overheard the teacher tell the inspector that I was ‘addled’ and it…
-
A Sensible Community Pharmacy & GP Collaboration
In a win for commonsense, a professional collaboration between community pharmacists and local GP’s coupled with a simultaneous a solution for a major public health problem, a mutually respectful system has been piloted in the County of Staffordshire in the UK. And patients involved in the pilot study have documented high levels of satisfaction, simply because…
-
Can we make a difference on mental health?
It’s Men’s Health Week, and I’m sure that you are aware of the shocking statistics surrounding depression in men. The reasons why men seem to be so vulnerable are debated constantly, but statistics don’t lie. We pharmacists are in a rather privileged position to help. Or, on the other hand, we can decide not to…
-
The Medical Profession Leadership – Is Their Pharmacy Rant a cry for a Direction?
The medical profession has always promoted itself as being the leading health modality with all other health formats and modalities being inferior. It has reinforced that vision through the lens of adopting power politics as its primary marketing strategy. This meant that instead of being respectful and gaining the collaborative support of all other health…
-
Marketing Focus – Let’s Get Physical
Ah, the ebbs and flow of commerce. In recent times there has been a noticeable migration from dedicated on-line business channels to the acquisition, commencement and implementation of traditional bricks and mortar premises. At the forefront is Amazon, with its acquisition of the retail network Whole Foods, and its 450 + outlets in some 43…
-
Professional Discretion Restored – Much More than Homeopathic Product Sales
The Australian Government has made a commonsense decision to allow pharmacists to continue the sale of homeopathic products for those patients who find they derive benefit from their use. The actual extract from the government response to the homeopathy issue in the final King Review Report states: “Recommendation 4-4: Sale of Homeopathic Products in PBS…
-
We are Judged Within Seven Seconds of Meeting Somebody
We are head down, tail up, working our way through a pile of prescriptions across the day, striving to use the skills that we are famous and respected for. Some of the people waiting for scripts will be people we already know. Others will be brand new patients, who we are engaging with for the…
-
“Recommendation Prescriptions”
How many times in an average day would you discuss a minor ailment with a patient? Do you aim for a quick sale, or do you really engage and help with meaningful solutions? What about considering your own “script pad” with your name and pharmacy details imprinted, and on which you list your solutions, in…
-
Marketing Professional Services – Tactics & Strategies
Pharmacists are slowly coming to grips with the provision of professional services and are fleshing out suitable business models very cautiously. In part, this caution arises out of a sense of uncertainty because of the culture change that has to be embraced in converting what was previously an unstructured service (provided free of charge) to…