The feature articles below are "opinion" pieces and reflect the views of the individual authors. They are not the views of AusPharm.net.au P/L, its directors or editorial group unless explicitly stated to be so.
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Opinion
The Great Crash of ’08 - Being a discussion of men, money and morality :: John Chapman : 21/4/2009 : In today's feature, Australian College of Pharmacy Practice and Management CEO John Chapman tries to give some meaning to what the Global Financial Crisis might mean for pharmacy.
"Let me say at the outset that I’m not an economist however a long time ago I did study micro and macro economics and that arguably gives me some chance of interpreting the words of experts. What I’ve tried to do for this evening presentation is to gather a range of commentary on the current situation, blend it with some purely academic reading, and, in the process, hopefully produce a result that is both intelligible and helpful to you." More... 
What's good enough for remote Australia is good enough for urban Australia :: Andrew Roberts : 7/4/2009 : Nurses have been in the news a lot in recent times. Back in February the mainstream media picked up on one of the ideas floated in the Maternity Services Report, that midwives might perhaps be able to write PBS prescriptions.
Peter Crothers commented in an AusPharmList post earlier this year that nurses also do 'pharmacy' work in at least 50 NSW hospitals.
Today's AusPharm feature begins with comments from pharmacist Patti Placebo on her retirement from pharmacy in 2015. Patti talks about the decision taken by the Rudd government in 2010 to recast pharmacy services across the country to bring them into line with the successful model used in remote Australia. The remote model successfully added a pharmacy role to nursing work. More...
Don’t just stand there, *do* something :: Frank Morgan : 25/3/2009 : Often when I visit retail outlets and talk to staff, I am amazed to find that apart from learning how to use the cash register ... NOTHING …
As the owner or manager of a business you rely for your success or failure on the performance of your team. Possibly, you have invested many hundreds of thousands of dollars in your business. Train your staff as though they write the cheque for your pay ..... because they do. More...
How long is your piece of string? :: Irwin the evil chemist : 17/3/2009 : Frequently, a foot is what you might want to plant forcefully in the backside of a lazy, non-performing employee. Non-performing employees who exist in that state for lack of cognitive ability to carry out their – so straightforward that a lobotomised lemur might also be able to accomplish – task are far more deserving of an open-palmed smack to the back of the head.
An open-palmed smack to the front of the head is usually administered to one’s self and typically for reasons of self stupidity where, sadly, there can be nobody else to blame, and perhaps the magnitude of the accomplishment can only be met by such self forehead flagellation. More...
Competition is good, yes? Well maybe! :: Ron Batagol : 10/3/2009 : Isn't it funny how, as you travel through the highways and byways of life, something you've read, heard or seen - a piece of literature, prose or even a TV show, seems to crystallise into a prophetic commentary on life in general, or at least on specific aspects of the social fabric that inextricably binds us together as a community.
Two of the most powerful and abiding images of 2008 have got to be, firstly, at the start of the world financial meltdown, the top financial gurus of Wall Street, hastily leaving the city with bulging briefcases , in chauffeured limousines. Then, some weeks later, the heads of the major auto manufacturers arriving in their private jets, to meet with the U.S.Congress and beg for billions of taxpayer dollars to enable their companies to survive! More...
Under a bushel: David Haworth, photographer :: : 17/2/2009 : After the 'serious' nature of our features over the last few weeks we thought that this week would be a good time to run with something a little lighter.
In the first of what will be occasional contributions from 'listers with talents outside pharmacy, David Haworth tells us about his other passion. (Thanks to Peter Allen for asking the questions.)
We've included some thumbnails of David's work. Click any of these to link to the full sized versions on his website. More...
Promotion of ‘discounted’ medicines :: Michael Scavone : 10/2/2009 : Not one pharmacist I know enjoys having one of their customers hand them a leaflet promoting heavily discounted medicines, often sold substantially lower than their regular wholesale price.
Why does this practice go on, supposedly unchecked and accepted because it is ‘legal’? More...
Time to scrap to RMMR referral process? :: Michael Page : 1/2/2009 : A New South Wales general practitioner commented recently in a popular medical magazine on the usefulness of uniform facility-initiated medication reviews (Residential Medication Management Reviews, or RMMRs) provided by pharmacists.
He considered that these reviews often “misrepresent data on adverse reactions and ignore any benefit-risk decision considered by the prescriber”. Perhaps more disappointingly, he goes on to state that he “generally ignores the pharmacist’s review rather than… agreeing with the obvious, or arguing against the irrelevant”.
This is one man’s opinion and it may or may not be widely held, although it may be so that pharmacists have heard similar complaints from different doctors. More...
The Private Practitioner Pharmacist - A Third Career Path :: John Gibson : 27/1/2009 : In the first of our features for 2009, former Pharmaceutical Council of Western Australia member, John Gibson, says it is time for a third career pathway to be developed for pharmacists.
"The National Primary Health Care Strategy currently being developed by the Federal Government offers an unequalled opportunity for pharmacists to be recognised as key primary health care providers, along with physiotherapists, occupational therapists and other allied health practitioners, and to receive payment for same."
However, according to John, not all industry players are on side.
"If the [Pharmacy] Guild maintains its traditional resistance to the provision of services outside the control of the community pharmacy during the development of the National Primary Health Care Strategy, it may well destroy a once in a generation opportunity to move pharmacy forward to a new level of professionalism and cripple the chance for thousands of pharmacy graduates to fully utilise the skills that they have developed during their training." More...
Forged and altered scripts: how we detect and handle them :: Curtis Ruhnau : 20/1/2009 : With all the talk on AusPharmList recently about forged scripts, we thought it might be good to republish Curtis Ruhnau's excellent artilce from January, 2007.
As a special treat for our non premium members (so that you can see what you're missing out on!), we've made it available to ALL registered AusPharm members (not just premium members) for THE NEXT WEEK ONLY (until 27/1/09). Read on.....
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So, what helps us to detect forgeries? It can be many things, but it seems that like so many things in this life - if it looks crook, it probably is. Our folder has quite a few examples of what has been done to try to get us to dispense scripts which have been forged or altered, but some of the 'triggers' which arouse our suspicion are...... More...
Weight loss in the pharmacy :: Stuart Adams : 12/1/2009 : AusPharm first published this article from nutritionist Stuart Adams back in October 2007. We thought you might like another look at it in the light of David Gillespie's comments 
questioning the efficacy of weight loss shakes, published in Crikey last week.
As a special treat for our non-premium members (so you can see what you're missing by not taking out a premium subscription to AusPharm) we've made it available to you too for this week only (until 20/1/09). Read on.....
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"When pharmacists abuse their positions as trusted health care professionals to use their pharmacies as vehicles to push faddish weight loss schemes, one has to seriously question the validity of the pharmacy as a reliable source of information on weight loss or anything nutrition related." More...
Unexpected Consequences :: Irwin the evil chemist : 8/1/2009 : AusPharm won't have any new feature articles for you until February but, in the meantime, we thought you might enjoy taking another look at one of our most popular articles, first published in August 2007.
As a special treat for our non-premium members (so you can see what you're missing by not taking out a premium subscription to AusPharm) we've made it available to you too for this week only (until 13/1/09). Read on.....
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"I distinctly remember back to my undergraduate days when Professor Raymond exhorted us to get out there and talk to patients. Being the '80s, 
pharmacists were desperately trying to shake off the "chemist" image and become more professional. After a goodly number of lectures of this, I thought (as a final year* student might think) that one particular Friday night dispensing an old lady's Amoxil® would be as good a time as any to practise."
* A final year student in those days was third year, Standard Temperature was 20 degrees, and eccentrics taught university instead of being injected with anti-psychotics. More...
Workload Watchdog - Whose Responsibility? :: Michael Scavone : 11/12/2008 : Following Ron Batagol's spirited quest to bring the profession's "sausage factories" to account, and David Brown of Guild Insurance's recent response to same, pharmacy consultant Michael Scavone in our AusPharm feature article today wonders whether the role of "watchdog" in this instance is being shouldered quite as broadly as it should...
"To this point, I have seen little evidence of pharmacy organisations and government working together to arrive at sensible solutions with well defined outcomes addressing the issue of excessive workloads.
Which organisations are responsible for ensuring high standard practice and reducing excessive workloads? Do they work well together?" More...
In space, no one would hear them scream... :: Irwin the evil chemist : 4/12/2008 : Trying the patience this week of our resident saint, Irwin The Evil Chemist, are screaming kids and the folk what begat them. Read more in his Feature article today:
"Well-behaved children are such a blessing that there must be something biblical and possibly divorced from reality about it, because the antithesis is more often seen in my shop. Like the parent who each time brings her two little darlings into the shop. As piranha would devour a mob of cattle, they separate and start playing with
stock, displays, water bubblers, sanity, and invariably conclude by demanding jelly beans. A previous time that this occurred, they didn’t demand, they just took, and this ended up with me requesting payment for said jelly beans, parents refusing to pay, me threatening to call police, and they threatening to kill me.
I kid you not." More...
A way forward to obtain professional services fees? :: Michael Scavone : 27/11/2008 : In today's AusPharm feature, Michael Scavone, puts a case for using the projected PBS savings recently identified to fund pharmacist primary care initiatives, such as the Know your numbers campaign, due to roll out in Queensland in 2009.
"The time has surely come for pharmacists to be assigned a Medicare type Item Number for a unique professional service that falls outside the scope of dispensing and supplying a drug.
Every time the pharmacist conducts a BP measurement (and mini HMR), interview or consultation could not a Medicare fee, properly costed, be submitted for payment in the same manner that doctors and many other healthcare professionals do now?" More...
Insurance to close the sausage factories? It's worth a try! :: Ron Batagol : 20/11/2008 : Ron Batagol returns with a new feature article and a fresh strategy to combat the proliferation of high volume dispensing environments:
"I propose the Professional Indemnity Insurer - as a pre-condition, and, therefore, before accepting a proposal or renewal from a pharmacist for Professional Indemnity - require pharmacists to sign a declaration of compliance with the established professional standards for dispensing prescriptions and counselling patients about their medications. They would also be required to declare that, within their dispensing environment, they will make every endeavour to minimise known risk factors for potential dispensing errors as listed on the declaration, which need to be clearly identified and agreed upon by the profession." More...
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Responsible Citizenship, or a RUM deal? :: Wendy Morton : 13/11/2008 : Following on from Peter's Pearl this week, Wendy Morton explores the challenges pharmacists face in balancing the global imperative to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle with our Quality Use of Medicines responsibilities...
oms we aren't using, screech at children to switch off electronic devices not in immediate use, diligently collect up our newspapers, cardboard, glass, aluminium cans, steel cans, plakky bottles, milk cartons & ensure their specially designated bin has its butt kerbside for recyclable collection day. With the advent of eBay and initiatives like freecycle, it is easy to cultivate the mindset that NOTHING should be thrown away.
Then... we toddle off to work." More...
Pharmacy Needs to Develop a Vision :: Dr Luke Bereznicki : 6/11/2008 : Luke Bereznicki has packed a lot of achievement into a relatively short career in pharmacy, including becoming the 2008 PSA Young Pharmacist of the Year. His thoughts on the future of our profession make very interesting reading...
"I simply don't believe independent or 'specialist' pharmacy p
ractice is in any way detrimental to community pharmacies. In fact, I feel it would provide us with an avenue to evolve as a profession, and benefit us all. Whether or not the superclinics go ahead remains an open question. However, the way in which this debate occurred within our profession, I believe, only demonstrated to the public, other health professionals and ourselves our lack of preparedness and vision." More...
Life in and out of the pharmacy :: somepharmacyguy : 29/10/2008 : somepharmacyguy is back, this time having a look at some of the more challenging customer/pharmacist encounters....
"Retail pharmacy being the business that it is the pharmacist is often required to smile graciously through some of the most vitriolic abuse imaginable. Whether it's an attack on the individual, individual's appearance, the business, or one's skill as a professional, there's few topics that are sacred when a customer launches into a purple-faced spittle-dispensing rant over what is usually the most minor of issues." More...
Improving access to Home Medicine Reviews (HMRs) in remote Aboriginal Communities :: Cathy Larkin : 16/10/2008 : In today's AusPharm feature, we publish the third and final instalment of our 'HMRs in remote areas' series. This is another article on services in
the bush arranged for us by Andrew Roberts www.bitethedust.com.au - thanks Robbo.
Kathy Larkin is an accredited pharmacist with experience working in the remote Kimberly are of Western Australia.
"Modification is required to the current HMR process before it will be viewed as a workable and useful process for clinicians and clients in remote Aboriginal communities. Below are suggested opportunities for modifications. These comments are based on my experiences as a remote area pharmacist working in the Kimberley." More...
This features page will be updated with new opinion pieces regularly. Unlike the hard copy publications that publish all their content once each week/fortnight/month we will publish on a rolling basis.
Got something to say? Fancy yourself as a features writer?
At AusPharm.net.au we are always on the lookout for people with an opinion to express. If you think you fit the bill, contact Mark Dunn to express an interest or to get further information.
