Let me tell you about my Monday : 20/02/2008 :

'Listers will be aware that much of Queensland has been, well, damp for the last week or so.

The story below arrived in AusPharm's inbox yesterday.

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Cancelled trip to Brisbane for eQCPP training due to damage to the pharmacy and I felt the staff needed my support at work. How right I was.

7.30am - Fred server saying remove disc and I will boot up for you - no discs to be found in any drives. Looking a little fatal. Client 1 booted up but would not print as they are all on Fred server as is comm. Server. Oh well I can write by hand. Rang IT guy over the weekend and he has lost everything with 2 feet of water through his house plus cars destroyed. He says he will come and rescue Fred server - angel.

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Scheme to encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to join pharmacy workforce : 19/02/2008 :

Pharmacies in rural and remote areas are being encouraged to participate in a new scheme aimed at helping Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people enter the pharmacy workforce as pharmacy assistants and technicians.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Pharmacy Assistant Scheme is an initiative of the Indigenous Access Program, which aims to improve access to community pharmacy services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Eligible pharmacies may receive an allowance of up to $10,000 to employ and train a pharmacy assistant/technician of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent.

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Stil*ox in the news again this week? : 18/02/2008 :

Some 'listers may have heard the story of Mairead Costigan (pictured at right) who died on 13 September 2007 after sleepwalking and falling from a cycleway approach to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. A toxicology report found traces of one of the 'Z' drugs in her system. Mairead's family have put together a petition to try to have them banned.

www.ipetitions.com/petition/stilnox/

AusPharm understands that Mairead's story might get some more coverage this week, on the ABC's 7.30 Report and elsewhere.

The National Drugs and Poisons Scheduling Committee (NDPSC) meets this week and, once again, zolpid*m is on the agenda.

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FairDeal Homeopathy? : 18/02/2008 :

The February 2 issue of New Scientist drew reader's attention to a company called FairDeal Homeopathy. FairDeal Homeopathy promises to supply consumers with "effective* homeopathic remedies at a fair price".

 

According to FairDeal Homeopathy "Homeopathy works through a complicated interaction with the human body and mind known as the "placebo effect". The placebo effect is still not fully understood, but is very effective for certain conditions**."

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NPS campaign needs volunteer health presenters to commit this month! : 18/02/2008 :

The National Prescribing Service Limited (NPS) is calling on the expertise of doctors, pharmacists and nurses to volunteer as guest presenters at child care centres across the nation this autumn.
Volunteer presenters are encouraged to register their interest in providing short information sessions to local child care centres by mid March to allow time for volunteers to be briefed and matched to requests from child care centres interested in reducing cross infections.

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The Australian Pharmacy Preceptor Education Program : 15/02/2008 :

Not sure how to properly look after your pre-reg or student? The Pharmacy Preceptor Education Program might be what you've been looking for.

The program was developed by pharmacy academics from five Australian universities and is designed specifically for pharmacist preceptors to help them plan and manage a student or pre-registrant placement.

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Poll results: who should represent pharmacy at the Australian 2020 summit? : 15/02/2008 :

This week's AusPharm poll asked people to vote for the two pharmacists they would like to attend the Australia 2020 Summit on behalf of their profession.

Now we need to say up front that the the final list we gave you to vote on had some notable omissions, in part because people got their 'nominations' in too late but also because Prime Minister Rudd made it clear that people would not be invited to represent interest groups. This meant that, for example, Guild President Kos Sclavos, who most would agree has as good an understanding of pharmacy's actual and possible future role in health as any, wasn't on the list.

However, our list did have some good names on it. In analysing the results, all we did was add together candidate's scores in the first and second preference polls to give a total and this is what we got:

 

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Medicines Australia appoints new chairman : 15/02/2008 :

The Board of Medicines Australia has appointed Mr Will Delaat, the retiring Managing Director of Merck Sharp & Dohme, as its new Chairman.

Mr Delaat has just announced his retirement from Merck Sharp & Dohme after 11 years at the helm of that company.

Mr Delaat has been a director of Medicines Australia since 1998. He has previously served as Chairman, from 2003 to 2005, and as Vice-Chairman.

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Agreement marks milestone for PSA : 15/02/2008 :

PSA marked a milestone in its move to become a single, unified organisation with the signing of the Branch-National Agreement in the Members’ Rooms at Old Parliament House, Canberra, on February 13.

Representatives from five states and National President Brian Grogan signed the agreement which formalises the unified national structure for PSA.

Pictured below, celebrating the signing of the agreement are PSA immediate past President Jay Hooper and outgoing PSA CEO Kerry Deans.

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From Bourbon St to oblivion ....... The ‘death of a pharmacy’ : 13/02/2008 :

Back in January we published an article provided by The Australian Academy of the History of Pharmacy that was published in the November 2007 issue of their Journal. PHARMACY HISTORY. The Academy have kindly provided us with another article from the November Journal.

Today's article, written by Brendan West, tells a sad tale of the 21st century catching up with pharmacy.

To learn more about The Academy (and to get the info you need to join - it's only $35 a year) click here. To read Brendan's story click the More...... link below.

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"My story begins at Davidson’s Pharmacy in Bundaberg, Queensland, a town famous for its production of Australian Rum. In 1887 pharmacist John Davidson established what is currently known as Hynes Pharmacy, at 147 Bourbong Street Bundaberg, in 1887."

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Poll: who should represent pharmacy at the Australian 2020 summit? : 13/02/2008 :

Over the last week or so there has been discussion on AusPharmList as to who should speak for pharmacy at Prime Minister Rudd's Australia 2020 summit. 15 names emerged from the hat and over the next 48 hours you'll have an opportunity to vote for the people you think should go.

Who do you think would do the best job for pharmacy? A wise old head or a young gun with fresh ideas? Or both? Please let us have your first and second preferences by voting in today's polls (there are two of them --> look left, look right).

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Does my PDL policy cover my medical certificate service? : 13/02/2008 :

Yes, it does. AusPharm received an email yesterday suggesting that there was some uncertainty as to whether PDL would cover pharmacists providing a medical certificate service so we called PDL and asked them.

The answer: provided the service is delivered according to the approved guidelines your PDL professional indemnity insurance does cover you.

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Webstercare February newsletter : 12/02/2008 :

Every second month our friends at Webstercare produce a newsletter that is distributed to all aged care homes throughout Australia.

They have kindly agreed to allow 'listers to access the newsletter through the (e)news. Each issue contains a Continuing Education feature and, while this is designed to be read by RACF staff, pharmacists will also find it interesting and, hopefully, enlightening as well.

Click here to download the Webstercare February 2008 newsletter in full. Click here if you have any feedback, suggestions or queries about the newsletter.

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Another Indian generic supplier enters the Australian market : 12/02/2008 :

Australian generics company Genepharm announced yesterday that it entered into a strategic partnership with Indian generics manufacturer Strides Arcolab Limited that will see Strides end up with with a share holding of approximately 55% of the expanded capital base of Genepharm.
Genepharm CEO, Dennis Bastas, said: "This represents an excellent opportunity for Genepharm to build scale and diversity, leveraging the combined capabilities of Genepharm and Strides to create a premium healthcare business in the Australian and Asian regions."

You can read the details here.

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Medical certificates: it's a 'no brainer' : 11/02/2008 :

In last week's AusPharm poll 40% of respondents said that they would not be offering a medical certificate service with a further 34% saying they hadn't yet made up their mind. At the same time, there was quite a bit of related discussion on AusPharmList, including comments from a few 'listers that they were quite apprehensive about having to provide the service.

AusPharm asked The Pharmacy Guild, The Pharmaceutical Society and The Pharmacists Division of APESMA for comment.

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Antibiotic Resistance health promotion initiative : 11/02/2008 :

The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia’s Pharmacy Self Care Program has launched a special health-promotion initiative on Antibiotic Resistance.

Antibiotic resistance occurs all over the world and has become a serious problem in the treatment of many infectious diseases. More than 70% of the bacteria responsible for hospital-acquired infections are resistant to at least one of the antibiotics most commonly used to combat them.

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Poll results: pharmacists uncertain on medical certificates : 08/02/2008 :

This week's poll asked 'listers whether or not their pharmacies would be offering a medical certificate service.

The results, shown below, suggest that 40% of pharmacies won't be offering the service with another 34% unsure for now.

AusPharm thinks this is an extraordnary result. To find out why, read Wendy Morton's editorial on AusPharm today .

 

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2008 National QUM Awards : 07/02/2008 :

The National Prescribing Service Limited (NPS) and the Pharmaceutical Health And Rational use of Medicines (PHARM) Committee are calling for entries in the biennial National QUM Awards which celebrate significant contributions to Quality Use of Medicines (QUM).

The Awards recognise the originators of QUM work and their contribution to achieving better use of medicines at a national, state, regional or local level. The Awards are an initiative of the NPS and PHARM Committee.

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Poll: medical certificates - will you? : 06/02/2008 :

The issue of pharmacists issuing medical certificates remained in the news for much of the last week after the AMA came out against it (surprise, surprise).

AMA president Rosanna Capolingua said the rule could have dire consequences because pharmacists were not qualified to examine and diagnose patients. "I might present to the pharmacist having needed to take the day off work because I have headache ... I might get my certificate for two days but in fact I've got meningococcus and I am dead within that 48-hour period because I havent seen a doctor."

Chairman of the AMA therapeutics committee Dr John Gullotta, a former pharmacist, said the rules could discourage patients who required medical attention from seeing a GP, and added that a noisy, busy pharmacy was not the best place for a consultation.

We ran a poll last week asking pharmacists what their pharmacies might charge for this professional service but this week, now that most pharmacists will have had a chance to review the guidelines, we'll focus just on whether or not the pharmacy you work in is going to offer the service at all. What's going to happen in your pharmacy? Please let us know by voting in this week's poll.

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NAPSA Congress Sydney 2008 : 06/02/2008 :

On 23rd January 2008, 270 students from 14 pharmacy schools around Australia converged on The University of Sydney for a week of education and entertainment. This year’s event saw students from Charles Darwin University in the Northern Territory attend for the first time.

Conference delagates are pictured below. Click the image to see a (much) larger version of the photo on the AusPharm website in which individual delegates can be identified.

Being an Olympic year, the theme for the congress was ‘Going for Gold’. Ramesh Walpola, chair of the congress organising committee, said that “the delegates were provided with golden opportunities to question and examine the issues that are affecting our profession.” Students were also offered the opportunity to participate in forums and debates to share their ideas on the various topics raised.

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