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.

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...

"Of course we all want to be good citizens, so at home, green grocery bags ever poised for some shopping action, we switch off lights in rooms 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 practice 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...

Can I claim a tax deduction for my car? :: Stuart Gardner : 9/10/2008 : Pharmacists are often unclear about whether or not they can claim a tax deduction for their work related motor vehicle expenses.

In today's AusPharm feature JR Pharmacy Services Senior Manager Stuart Gardner takes a look at this in a number of pharmacy employment situations.    More...

C'mon....give us *all* a break :: Wendy Morton : 29/9/2008 : "Some AusPharm polls are interesting, some entertaining, but this latest one on lunch breaks – yowzers! It’s downright scary."

So writes Wendy Morton in today's feature, which takes a close look at pharmacists' custom of working lengthy shifts without taking a break.    More...

Drug marketing and drug education are two different things. Don't confuse the two! :: Ron Batagol : 25/9/2008 : Following a link from the AusPharm In the News section recently, I read a Sydney Morning Herald report of an interesting survey by Choice Magazine.

You remember the one, Drug Companies have a "major influence" on what doctors prescribe.    More...

What have pharmacists got to do with pharmacy medicines? :: David Tilbury : 18/9/2008 : Throughout Australia, medicines that contain substances listed in Schedule 2 of the Poisons Schedule may only be sold by pharmacists (and some other health professionals).  What special requirements exist for pharmacists when selling these “pharmacy medicines”?

Unfortunately, there is no single answer for readers across Australia says Cropper Parkhill solicitor David Tilbury in today's AusPharm feature.

"It depends on your state or territory, and it appears that there is considerable disparity between the jurisdictions in the manner in which S2s are treated"    More...

Conducting Home Medicines Reviews in the Kimberley :: Lisa Crisp : 10/9/2008 : Last week AusPharm published a piece from Chris Phillips,  Senior Program Manager with the Kimberley Division of General Practice and HMR facilitator for the region. Chris told us about the many challenges he faced in establishing a HMR service in the region. Today we hear from Lisa Crisp, the pharmacist actually doing the HMRs.

"For the past two years I have been fortunate enough to work across the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It is one of the most beautiful offices in the world and this is the story of how I established a career in this wonderful workplace."

(Another article on services in
the bush arranged for us by Andrew Roberts www.bitethedust.com.au - thanks Robbo.)    More...

It’s the small things :: Bruce Moffat : 4/9/2008 : In today's AusPharm feature Bruce Moffat asks why it is that we keep turning up for work.

"Ever had an E Coli kinda day?  They creep up on you.  Or at least the feeling does.

They’re the kind of coalface days when the only difference between your work day and that of a Gram negative microbe drifting in a sea of effluent is that, if you’re lucky, you may at least have the opportunity at the end of it to reproduce sexually.  Not that silly horizontal DNA transfer business.  The bugs can keep it.  Mind you, they can manufacture their own alcohol so it’s not all gloom and hydrogen sulphide at the angstrom level."   More...

Rural and Remote HMRs in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia :: Chris Phillips : 1/9/2008 : In the coming weeks we'll be bringing you a number of articles about how HMRs are conducted in the remote Kimberley area of WA.

Today's first instalment is from Chris Phillips, Senior Program Manager with the Kimberley Division of General Practice Broome.

"Setting up a HMR service has been an evolving process.  There are only 5 private pharmacies in the region, 3 of those being in Broome (with a resident population around 12,000).  The other 2 pharmacies are located in Derby (200 km from Broome) and Kununurra in the East Kimberley (over 1000 kms from Broome)."

(Thanks to Andrew Roberts for arranging this article for us. Have you seen Andrew's rural and remote blog? It's worth a look --> here.)   More...

Memoirs of My Geishas :: Wendy Morton : 28/8/2008 : As a single gal kept busy juggling fulltime work, kids, home, community interests and a rather active social life, several wags have passed comment that I would really benefit from setting about finding myself a wife. Like many working women, at each fresh suggestion I of course laugh as if it is the first time I've ever heard the joke - for I don't wish to seem impolite - and promise to keep an eye out. But you know what? After several years working as a pharmacist in a broad range of locales, there's no way I would be settling for a common or garden wife in my life! I want so much more...    More...

Zero alcohol in pregnancy and breast-feeding - more political correctness gone mad? :: Ron Batagol : 20/8/2008 : In today's AusPharm feature Ron Batagol has a look at the NHMRC's proposed Australian Alcohol Guidelines for Low-Risk Drinking as they relate to women who are either pregnant or breast feeding.

"In early December last year, I was putting together a set of comments to the NHMRC on their proposed "zero alcohol" recommendations for pregnant and breast-feeding women, which was one part of the proposed NHMRC Australian Alcohol Guidelines for Low-Risk Drinking. I started to reflect on this whole concept of factoring in the social costs of the enthusiastic pursuit of some of these politically correct "zero tolerance" agendas that, for all the right reasons, we often zealously promote."    More...

Training is an investment not a cost :: Annette Ivory-Barker : 14/8/2008 : In today's AusPharm feature JR Pharmacy Services Senior Manager Annette Ivory-Barker talks about the importance of staff training and how the right training can add value to a business and to the individual doing the training.

"...in a retail environment a lack of commitment to ongoing training and development will inevitable result in dissatisfied or indifferent customers and, therefore, lost sales and market share."    More...

No Substitute for Equality :: Veronica Nou : 24/7/2008 : "In a cosy suburban pharmacy somewhere in Sydney, a keen young pharmacist spent many a merry day deciphering prescriptions, admiring countless photos of the families of the prescription owners, engaging in friendly debates with staff from the nearby bottle shop as to which of their respective businesses sold the more superior cure for local ailments, asking irritating questions of med reps who seemed never in their lives to have even heard of pharmacokinetics, and vigorously defending the prices her employer charges against tales of someplace else charging over a DOLLAR less. Between searching for a working pen and asking why Xalatan® had been delivered in a cardboard box without a fridge warning, she even occasionally found time to talk with the people who entrusted her with their health and the health of people they loved. Sometimes, those conversations wound around towards generics."

In today's AusPharm feature Veronica Nou has a close look at what 'equivalent' really means.    More...

I attract them :: Irwin the evil chemist : 17/7/2008 : There are many things that are not taught at Pharmacy College. One broad topic is that of the great unwashed masses: the general public; those you will come into contact with in some way or other and a few of whom you might have the opportunity to employ, should you ever obtain the Holy Grail of Retail Pharmacy ownership.

There is little else that can be done about the great unwashed other than to maintain a safe braking distance. On no account should you go about employing the more loopy ones.    More...

Celebrity Worship Syndrome - so that's how you get through to them! :: Ron Batagol : 10/7/2008 : “What do you mean it's useless unless he's a horny goat? That's not what Funky Spunky from the Deadbeats said! He reckons it works every time for him. And what's more, time and time again!"

In today's AusPharm feature Ron Batagol suggests that maybe we're approaching our counseling role from the wrong direction....

"In a national online survey of Australians in March 2007, it was revealed that a staggering 68% of Australians love celebrities. In fact they are so captivated that over 20% seek out celebrity news every day and 40% seek it out weekly. 31% of those responding went so far as to say they consider themselves completely celebrity obsessed or know someone who is."    More...

Opioid Therapy as a Pharmacy Specialty :: Peter Allen : 3/7/2008 : Methadone programmes have once again been a topic of discussion on AusPharmList in recent weeks after the publication of a report critical of the cost.

In today's feature Peter Allen puts a human face on these programmes.

"Providing an Opioid Therapy Program, that's something really worthwhile. Which needs special skills, is professionally rewarding and financially rewarding too, since we seek to find replacements for lower profitability. This part of our practice should be recognised as an extra skill, alongside managing asthma or diabetes. 'Pharmacotherapy' is a professional specialty if ever there was one"    More...

What the F2 do? :: Wendy Morton : 26/6/2008 : By now, everyone has their head firmly around what to do in the lead up to August 1, don't they? Don't they???

In today's AusPharm feature Wendy Morton tells us what she thinks you should be doing.

"August 1st approacheth and it seems many pharmacists' heads are spinning - with the potential also for a few heads to roll - over how best to survive the imminent PBS Reform price changes associated with products included on the list of F2T drugs."    More...

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