-
Many Ordinary Meds Cause Depression; Public Trust in Pharma Hits New Low
For years, I’ve been writing about the medical system’s self-feeding mechanism:Give a patient a drug to treat his symptoms; the drug causes new symptoms, which are diagnosed as a new illness; and then new drugs are given, and those drugs cause still more symptoms, which in turn are diagnosed as a new condition…on and on…
-
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…
-
Screening over-70’s for memory issues – what can it achieve?
An international panel has recommended all people over 70 be tested each year for problems with memory and reasoning. They claim that the goal is to detect treatable disease, to provide lifestyle guidance to slow cognitive impairment, to identify patients who may be struggling to understand their doctor’s instructions, and to allow patients and families…
-
Nurse practitioners ‘fill a gap’ in aged care
Editor’s Note:Nurse Practitioners established themselves as independent practitioners with prescribing rights about 12 years ago.Since that date they have been exploring opportunities for an expanded nurse practitioner role. Pharmacists on the other hand, while capable of an independent role and actually demonstrating that role through the development of Home Medicines Reviews (and derivatives) have been…