Preventing and treating strokes : 03/03/2010 :

‘Stroke - prevention and treatment’ will be a major presentation at the upcoming Pharmaceutical Society of Australia’s 2010 Annual Offshore Conference in Beijing from 28 April to 7 May.

According to the Stroke Foundation of Australia, stroke is Australia’s second single greatest killer after coronary heart disease and a leading cause of disability,

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Poll: too many flu vaccines? : 03/03/2010 :

News broke mid February that flu vaccines had been removed from the PBS. This AFTER many (most?) pharmacies had already pre-ordered their 2010 requirements.

Will your pharmacy have too many flu vaccines now? Please let us know by ticking the relevant box in the week's AusPharm poll.

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MIMS Monthly Medicine Update : 03/03/2010 :

The MIMS March 2010 Monthly Medicine Update is now available. Click the link to read it now.

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Pharmacist's Out-of-the-Box Thinking Helps Haitian Earthquake Victims : 02/03/2010 :

'Listers might be interested to have a look at the role US emergency department pharmacist, Shannon Manzi, played in the immediate aftermath of the Haiti earthquake in January.

Manzi, a member of the Massachusetts-1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT), worked in Port-au-Prince alongside Boston-based International Medical Surgical Response Team (IMSuRT)-East.

Read all about it here.

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Tasmanian pharmacy swine flu vaccination trial a raging success : 02/03/2010 :

Early last month we reported on a trial in Tasmanian pharmacies to offer free swine flu vaccinations, administered by nurses.
 
The trial was duly conducted with 2,500 people given vaccinations in five pharmacies in the course of one week. The trial, conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, demonstrated that pharmacies could be successfull utilised as vaccination sites.

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Pharmacists’ Support Service restructures, plans expansion : 02/03/2010 :

The Pharmacists’ Support Service has taken the first step to becoming a fully independent service to service pharmacists throughout Australia by becoming an Incorporated Association.

Members met in February and voted to accept Articles of Association and a new independent Committee of Management representing a wide range of national pharmacy organisations.

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PBS script numbers, dollars spike in January : 01/03/2010 :

PBS statistics for January 2010, released by Medicare Australia last week, reveal that PBS script numbers and dollar costs rose markedly for the month compared to January 2009.

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February 2010 Mirixa Messenger : 01/03/2010 :

Mirixa Australia, launched in 2009, provides professional pharmacy services underpinned by innovative patient detection and clinical documentation software. 
 
Mirixa Messenger for February 2010 has just been released - this one page monthly publication concisely communicates information about Mirixa in bite-sized portions. 

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Guild releases codeine guidelines : 01/03/2010 :

The Pharmacy Guild has produced and made publicly available a range of resources relating to new regulations that will apply to the supply of combination analgesics containing codeine after May 1.

These include a Pharmacy Preparation Fact Sheet, a Pharmacy/Consumer Fact Sheet, a Draft staff meeting agenda and Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) Information. There is also an FAQ section.

Take a look here.

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Western Australia 2010 Pharmacy Cricket champions : 01/03/2010 :

After resounding wins against South Australia and New South Wales in the preliminary rounds and a hard fought win against Victoria in the final, Western Australia has taken out the 2010 Pharmacy Cricket championship, held this year in Perth from January 20-23.

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RGH E-Bulletin: Therapeutic drug monitoring : 01/03/2010 :

The topic of this RGH E‑Bulletin is Therapeutic drug monitoring.

"Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) refers to the measurement of drug concentrations in biological fluids with the goal of optimising a patient’s drug therapy and clinical outcomes. Drugs where TDM is used include those with a narrow therapeutic index, concentration-dependent pharmacokinetics, or where the desired therapeutic effect is difficult to monitor or there are large pharmacokinetic variations between individuals."

Click here to read the bulletin in full. The E‑Bulletins are archived on the AusPharmList website here.

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Poll: who delivers the drugs? : 26/02/2010 :

In light of comments on AusPharmList about whether staff vehicles are covered by insurance when doing deliveries, this week's poll sought to find out how prevalent this practice is.

Very prevalent, is the answer, with 41% of respondents using staff vehicles at least some of the time.

We'll see if we can get clarification on the insurance issues from our friends at Guild Insurance.

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Industry defends herbal medicines : 26/02/2010 :

In light of safety concerns aired on Wednesday night 7.30 Report, the Australian Self-Medication Industry (ASMI), the industry body representing non-prescription consumer healthcare products, said consumers should treat with caution reports suggesting there are lethal dangers associated with herbal remedies.

ASMI was responding to claims made in a research paper by Professor Roger Byard of the University of Adelaide published in the US-based Journal of Forensic Sciences which was featured on the ABC’s The 7:30 Report on Wednesday night.

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PHARMeFOOTY countdown begins - win a footy : 26/02/2010 :

Australia's only online tipping competition for pharmacy begins again next month with the kick-off of PHARMeFOOTY tipping for the Australian Football League and National Rugby League.

PHARMeFOOTY is a free, online tipping service sponsored by Fred Health and Medici Capital. Pharmacies and pharmacy students can compete in either the AFL or NRL competition, or both. The competition includes cash prizes of up to $5000.

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Blackmores powers along : 26/02/2010 :

Complementary medicine manufacturer Blackmores released its results for the first half of the current financial year yesterday.

The company continues to provide shareholders with good news. Sales were up 14% on the previous year, net profit (after tax) was up 7% to $12.8 million and an interim divident for shareholders of 42c a share (up 8%) was declared.

Blackmores attributes the strong result to the release of 40 new products and the expansion of its overseas range

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SHPA calls for connectivty for e-scripts across the health system : 25/02/2010 :

The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA) has urged the Australian government to consider using the same tools to link the electronic transfer of prescriptions across the entire health system.

SHPA CEO, Yvonne Allinson says that just about every hospital around the country is likely to be running an e-health project that involves medicines.

“When a patient moves between the community health and hospital sectors, one of the most fundamental things doctors need to know is what medicines are being taken,” says Ms Allinson.

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AusPharm CE: Headache & OTC analgesics : 25/02/2010 :

The latest AusPharm CE topic is Headache & OTC analgesics - it's been put together for us by Debbie Rigby.

"The availability of over-the-counter (OTC) analgesics provides ready access to consumers who experience either intermittent or chronic headaches to self-treat their pain. It has been shown that up to 70% of the Australian population uses OTC analgesics regularly for headaches or musculoskeletal pain."

Click here to do this Continuing Education activity or, if you prefer, take a look at our other CE activities here .

AusPharm gratefully acknowledges the financial support provided by the sponsors of our CE program, MIMS.

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Newer medicines used for arthritis and osteoporosis: take two! : 25/02/2010 :

Sorry all, we jumped the gun yesterday (forgetting what day it was) and prematurely published this item before the report itself had been made publicly available.

The report, Medication use for arthritis and osteoporosis, provides information on what medicines Australians are using to manage their musculoskeletal problems, how much these medicines cost, and trends in the prescription of new medicines.

It's there now, read it for yourself here.

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National registration a step closer : 25/02/2010 :

Legislation to support the implementation of a national system of registration and accreditation for pharmacists was introduced into federal Parliament yesterday.

The Bill sets out the framework for the scheme, covering registration of pharmacists (and other health practitioners) and accreditation of education and training, complaints, privacy and information sharing, and transitional arrangements.

Legislation is required to be introduced into each state and territory to enable the new arrangements with Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria having already passed their legislation. The ACT and Northern Territory have introduced their Bills and South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia are well advanced in their planning.

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600,000 swine flu vaccines go to Laos : 25/02/2010 :

Australia has donated 600,000 doses of swine flu vaccine to Laos. This donation is the first part of a commitment to provide up to 10 per cent of Australia's pandemic vaccine for use amongst developing neighbours.

Australia’s total donation of 2.1 million doses will also support Pacific Island countries, East Timor, Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea. Australia has also provided funds to the WHO to help distribute the vaccines to Papua New Guinea, the Pacific Islands and East Timor.

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