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Take two broccoli and call me in the morning!
Have you ever considered that we are in a pill-popping society? The first line treatment for many of the medical problems that walk through our doors is a medication. Have heartburn? Forget about avoiding the foods that cause your symptoms – just take a pill. New diagnosis of diabetes? We give lip service to lifestyle…
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Social Justice Programs – An Opportunity for a Patient Engagement and Health Literacy Expansion
Now that Location Rules have been made more certain through enabling legislation, it provides a level of certainty in respect of investing in services which would provide a community benefit, that in turn, could eventually be funded through government along the already familiar experience of a public/private partnership. i2P has previously expressed the opinion that…
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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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The Practice of Self Care – Where it all Begins
The concept and practice of Self Care has been part of pharmacy core business for as long as I can remember. Because of the high costs of the delivery of health care, it is beginning to become more prominent in the minds of health policy planners because Self Care has implications for long-term health benefits…
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Health Literacy – A Concept for a Valid Direction for Community Pharmacy
Recently, I had a conversation with a health professional involved in the public health system. Research had emerged that large pockets of populations were experiencing epidemic levels of chronic illness such as obesity, diabetes, asthma, and heart disease. These population pockets correlated with areas of low socio-economic households where people had generally poor diets and…
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The Patient Proposition
I am wondering if there are any pharmacists out there who have ever created a written proposal to recruit patients to your practice. The reason I ask is that so many pharmacists in their communications with each other or with other health professionals, talk in terms of having “customers”, with the word “patient” appearing spasmodically…
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Health Self Service in Kiosk Format
Self service through health kiosks has had a presence in Australia for at least 15 years, but it does not seem to have a high profile in the pharmacies in which it is promoted. Possibly because it is viewed as a “no win” situation because it is rarely used to generate a new revenue stream…
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Magnesium Decreases Hyperactivity in ADHD Children
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, November 23, 2016 Magnesium deficiency is found more frequently in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) than in healthy children. In one study of ADHD children, magnesium deficiency was found in 95 percent of those examined (1). Does this warrant magnesium supplementation for hyperactive children? The answer is yes. Supplementation…
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Patient Navigation – An old-new Opportunity for Pharmacists
i2P has commented before that community pharmacy has (and still is) the epicentre for primary health care. In many ways it was the original patient-centred home and it had a market share approaching 70 percent in the mid to late 1970’s when it was first surveyed. The entry point to primary health care within community…
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Education – Bring it on!
I continue to be amazed at the options available to give better results to our patients. No more is this evident in the area of complementary medicines. Young pharmacists to whom I speak give me the impression that complementary medicines are unproven, unprofessional and almost “beneath” them from a patient care perspective. What they are…