Johnson & Johnson JJET program for pharmacy assistants : 23/01/2009 :

In April 2009, Johnson & Johnson Pacific will launch its JJET (Johnson & Johnson Education and Training) program for pharmacy Assistants. The new platform will provide a fun, interactive and rewarding way for pharmacy assistants to learn about J&J pharmacy products, health conditions, selling skills and more.

Designed with pharmacy Assistants in mind, JJET will equip users with the ability to advise virtual customers about health care issues ranging from coughs & colds to dry skin. New JJET training modules will be introduced each month, covering topics such as Body Systems; Conditions; Symptoms & Treatments; Product Training; and Customer Scenarios to develop selling skills.

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Three day 'emergency supply' rule to go? : 23/01/2009 :

The Pharmacy Guild yesterday asked its members to help it gather evidence to support a new 'emergency supply' rule that would see pharmacists allowed to supply a full PBS pack of a medication when a patient not in possession of a prescription was deemed to need an 'emergency supply'.

The plan has the support of the AMA and, according to the Guild, could see pharmacists reimbursed in the usual way without having to chase up a hard copy prescription.

Poll: generic substitution rate : 22/01/2009 :

In an AusPharmList post on Monday Andrew Topp suggested we run a poll asking people what their 'success' rate is switching patients to medication brands that attract the $1.50 generic 'allowance'.

Andrew argued that (certainly for a cheap item), the $1.50 government allowance may outweigh any wholesale discount a pharmacy might earn, particularly as margins gradually reduce under the weight of price disclosure and that it could be argued that the $1.50 success rate provides a good indicator of success of substitution, that allows all pharmacies to compare rates, irrespective of their major generic supplier.

So what happening in the pharmacy you work in? Please let us know by participating in today's AusPharm poll below. This poll will remain open only until early tomorrow morning, when we'll publish the result.

Prescribing antidepressants in children : 22/01/2009 :

In response to reports of high rates of prescribing of selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) for infants and youths, the National Prescribing Service (NPS) has drawn together existing information resources and made them available in one convenient place on the NPS website to assist health professionals.

“NPS is working with the Department of Health and Ageing and Medicare Australia to further clarify the nature of current prescribing practice in this area,” NPS CEO, Dr Lynn Weekes said.

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J&J mounts mouthwash safety media campaign : 21/01/2009 :

Johnson & Johnson Pacific has launched a national media campaign to inform consumers about the established safety profile of mouthwashes, such as LISTERINE®. The campaign aims to provide consumers with accurate, evidence-based information about J&J's  oral care products
 
According to J&J, consumers have been confused and concerned at recent media reports suggesting that long term use of mouthwashes that contain alcohol can increase the risk of serious disease. J&J says that the published paper on which the media reports were based included only a selective group of clinical data that does not accurately reflect the full body of scientific evidence on the subject.

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STOP *is* a good thing : 21/01/2009 :

The first of this week's AusPharm polls asked 'listers for their thoughts on Project STOP.

The result (n=157) demonstrates that STOP is seen by a clear majority of pharmacists as *a good thing*. Given that its use isn't mandatory at present its penetration into the market, if you like, seems very good with only 10% of poll respondents not having seen it.

Click the link to see the results in detail or to post a comment to AusPharmList.

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API says all is well : 21/01/2009 :

API had its AGM yesterday and reported that its core business was strong, that it has aspirations for market leadership and that it has a clear vision for growth.

The market, however, remains unimpressed. The API share price at close of business yesterday was 51c.

You can read CEO Stephen Roche's AGM speech in full here and Chairman Peter Robinson's AGM speech here.

Call for Pharmacy Research Trust of NSW applications : 20/01/2009 :

Applications are being sought for grants through the Pharmacy Research Trust of NSW for 2009.

Applications can be sought under two categories - research and seed funding.  Research project grants may include requests for research maintenance/personnel or scholarships for post-graduate students.

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AusPharm CE: Weight management : 20/01/2009 :

With recent media attention and subsequent AusPharmList discussion on the role of pharmacists in weight management we thought you might remind you of our CE module that deals with this issue.

We first published this article back in July, 2008. It was put together for us by the team from UMORE with the lead authors for this activity being Helle Dalgaard Sørensen, Professor Gregory Peterson and Dr Luke Bereznicki. 

Click here to do this Continuing Education activity now.

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).

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NAPSA Congress on this week : 20/01/2009 :

The Western Australian Pharmacy Students Association (WAPSA) will play host to 250 pharmacy students from around the country this week at the the seventh annual NAPSA Congress since NAPSA reformed  in 2001. The theme for the 2009 Congress is Evolution. Delegates will be challenged, enlightened and encouraged to think outside the square as future Australian pharmacists.

The key note speaker for the Congress is 2008 PSA Pharmacist of the Year, Dr Lisa Nissen. Next year’s Congress will be hosted by the Griffith University Association of Pharmacy Students (GUAPS) on the Gold Coast.

Why should pharmacists report potential claims incidents? : 19/01/2009 :

Following our recent poll on dispensing errors (which showed that they seem to occur fairly often) PDL and Guild Insurance got in touch.

"After reading AusPharm's recent poll on frequency of dispensing errors, we thought it would be timely to send you the article below on the importance of reporting incidents."

Thanks to PDL and Guild Insurance for sending this along.

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In the course of your professional practice, you may have to make decisions on whether or not to report incidents that may lead to a potential claim. If you are even considering “should I report this incident?”, then we recommend a strategy of ‘better to report than be sorry’.

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NPS reaches out to remote pharmacists : 19/01/2009 :

The National Prescribing Service (NPS) is inviting pharmacists who are involved in providing pharmacy services to remote Aboriginal Health Services to participate in an NPS program that enhances Quality Use of Medicines in these communities.  

NPS first launched the NPS Outreach Pharmacists for Remote Aboriginal Health Service program, which supports pharmacists working with remote Aboriginal communities, in June 2008. This program was initially piloted in the Northern Territory but will now extend to pharmacists across Australia, with workshops scheduled to begin in March 2009.

Participation in the program assists pharmacists to meet the QUM and educational requirements of the contractual agreements with the Aboriginal Health Services.

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Poll: what do you think about Project STOP? : 19/01/2009 :

In light of the Guild's call last week for the use of Project STOP to be made mandatory in pharmacies across the country AusPharm wonders what people think of STOP now that it's been in use for some time now.

Please let us know by voting in today's poll below.

PBS schedule February 2009 : 19/01/2009 :

The PBS schedule and the 'Summary of Changes' for 1 February 2009 are now available on the AusPharmacist.net.au web site.

 New items include:

• Desvenlafaxine succinate tablets 50mg and 100mg (extended release) (Pristiq)
• Mirtazapine tablets 15mg (Axit 15)
• Sorafenib tablets 200mg (Nexavar)
• Triptorelin embonate powder for I.M. injection (prolonged release) 3.75mg and 11.25mg (base) with solvent, syringe and needles (Diphereline)
• Voriconazole tablets 50mg and 200mg (Vfend)
• Repat: Calcium tablets 600mg (as carbonate) (CAL-600)
• Repat: Imiquimod cream 50mg/g (5%) 250mg single use sachets (Aldara). Authority listing for treatment of solar keratosis on the face and scalp...

The full PBS schedule is a large pdf file. To save the file locally, e.g. onto your Desktop, 'Right click' then 'Save... as...' (the wording varies between browsers).

Do you know all you need to about smoking cessation? : 18/01/2009 :

If not, why not  have a look at one of our most popular CE activities for 2008, Smoking Cessation, put together for us by Debbie Rigby.

We've made it available to ALL registered AusPharm members (not just premium members) for THIS WEEK ONLY (until 19/1/09).

Click here to do this Continuing Education activity now. 

Click here to visit the AusPharm Continuing Education page where there are links to all of our CE activities.

AusPharm CE will be back in February with approximately 40 new activities scheduled for 2009, mostly selected on the basis of requests from 'listers during 2008.

AusPharm gratefully acknowledges the financial support provided by the sponsors of our CE program, MIMS and The Australian Medicines Handbook.

Mandate STOP says Guild : 16/01/2009 :

The Pharmacy Guild has called for the use of Project STOP by pharmacists to be made mandatory across Australia.

Currently the system is voluntary for pharmacists, assisting them to make decisions about whether a particular sale of a pseudoephedrine tablet or liquid product is legitimate.  The Guild believes it is time for mandatory reporting of PSE sales Australia-wide, to ensure consistency in pharmacy delivery, and to combat the misuse of cold and flu tablet medicines used in the manufacture of methamphetamines.

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Weight loss programs in pharmacy : 15/01/2009 :

'Listers will have seen our story on Monday about David Gillespie's piece in Crikey critical of pharmacy's role in supplying meal replacement shakes. Gillespie argues that there is clear evidence that the use of weight loss shakes containing fructose, available in most pharmacies under a range of brand names, actually causes an increase in weight.

AusPharm asked pharmacy weight loss trailblazer, Tony Ferguson, Debbie Rigby and PSA 2008 Young Pharmacist of the Year, Dr Luke Bereznicki, for a comment.

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3 Kondome, bitte ! : 14/01/2009 :

This is good - thanks to Peter Allen for sending it along.

Click the image to play the movie (3Mb wmv file).

Guild, PSA reaffirm co-operation and collaboration : 14/01/2009 :

As part of the preparations for the 5th Community Pharmacy Agreement, the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA), and the Pharmacy Guild of Australia have reaffirmed their agreement to work cooperatively in 2009 to achieve the best possible outcomes for their members and for the public.

The president of the PSA, Warwick Plunkett, pictured at right, said that at the beginning of 2009 it was important that the two organisations recognised the need for a common voice on major issues of mutual interest to members of both organisations.

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Poll result: declining a request for Mersyndol (or clone) : 14/01/2009 :

This week's poll asked 'listers to let us now how often they decline a request to supply Mersyndol (or equivalent). Not often, is the sense we get from the response (n=160).

AusPharm is not surprised by this as despite our understanding of things being that the doxylamine in these products conveys no (analgesic) therapeutic advantage in most circumstances it is *very* hard to get this message across to consumers using these products.

Click the link to see the result in detail.

Post a comment to AusPharmList.

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