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GP Practice Pharmacists – What is the Future?
Many of Australia’s accredited pharmacists have become frustrated with the “silo” they have been forced to occupy. The frustration was triggered when financing of HMR’s was manipulated so as to create “caps” on the numbers of reports that could be produced, and that a lower-level PGA inspired “Medscheck” was thrust on the scene that competed…
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I’ve been thinking about how the work we do today may impact the world we live in tomorrow
This afternoon, I received an e-mail from my friend George Laurer (to my right), the inventor of the UPC bar code—the very same code scanned on the items I purchased this morning at Costco and Trader Joe’s. It arrived on the anniversary (June 26, 1974) of the first bar-coded product being scanned at a point…
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Are Your Consumers Customers or Patients?
It seems that as pharmacies become more corporate in nature and larger in total business transacted, the concepts of pharmacy are tested, with the view of providing more financial benefit to the owners, either in the format of paying lowest possible wages to employed pharmacists, illegal removal or manipulation of award requirements (such as meal…
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Provider Numbers are the key to clinical services rollout
A few years ago I read a biography on the life of Joseph Stalin. The story of how Stalin rose to power and then ruled Russia with an unrelenting grasp for thirty years was quite an interesting read. Despite all his paranoia, ordered executions and sending millions to the gulags it is an interesting fact…
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The Gap Report & Its Opportunities
Self Care has been a platform of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia for as long as I can remember. It is good that it is at last receiving government recognition, particularly as it so easily fits a platform of patients taking responsibility for their own care and that the education required for patients is a…
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New Study Creates a Guide for Pharmacy Clinics
As pharmacy moves slowly into the provision of clinical services, their design and delivery through specialised clinic formats will be a major consideration. Growing incrementally in need, primary health care is a traditional area for pharmacy that needs to build to a provider status. A study published in The Lancet, could help because it has…
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I’ve been thinking about minding the gap, looking right, and a potential blind spot in the medication-use process.
There is little pedestrian about being a pedestrian in the UK. It pays to heed the painted warnings underfoot between the platforms and trains throughout the color-coded labyrinth of the famed Underground—“MIND THE GAP.” It is paramount, however, to heed the painted curbs at nearly every intersection—“LOOK RIGHT.” Perhaps you’ve had your close call…
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The Start-Point for Community Pharmacy Clinical Services – The Walgreen Model
There is no doubt that when an individual undertakes fitness training they measurably do better if they have a fitness coach supervising the process. And it works even better if there is some form of reward attached when goals are reached. Jenny Craig weight loss programs would not have the success they have had without…
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Walmart Is Rolling out a Primary Health Care “whole of store” Concept
It’s not just pharmacy expansion that US retail giant Walmart is changing the face of, but the entire scope of primary health care. This brings them into direct conflict with medical centres and given the massive resources and scale of operations, they are in a position to alter the primary health care market significantly and…
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Do You Have Disaster Recovery Plan For Your Business?
Most business owners are optimists! That is why they went into business in the first place. However, being optimists, many business owners don’t consider the risks that can threaten the very existence of their business, and as such, their own and their employees’ financial well being. The purpose of this blog post is to get…