Editorial

From the desk of the editor

Welcome to the first homepage edition of i2P for 2012.
In many ways it has been a slow start to the New Year because of having to deal with the “leftovers” from 2011.
One of those items for i2P was that a third-party provider to the site did not advise of a code change to the security section in our subscribe panel, creating a range of frustrated subscribers not able to get on board.
We apologise to all those potential subscribers who were unable to register with us in the second half of 2011, but if you try once more you should have no problem.

read more
open full screen

Columns

Recent Comments

Click here to read...

Past Editions

Volume 1 Number 1
Volume 1 Number 2
Volume 1 Number 3
Volume 1 Number 4
Volume 1 Number 5
Volume 1 Number 6
Volume 1 Number 7
Volume 2 Number 1
Volume 2 Number 2
Volume 2 Number 3
Volume 2 Number 4
Volume 2 Number 5
Volume 2 Number 6
Volume 2 Number 7
Volume 2 Number 8
Volume 2 Number 9
Volume 2 Number 10
Volume 2 Number 11
Volume 3 Number 1
Volume 3 Number 2
Volume 3 Number 3
Volume 3 Number 4
Volume 3 Number 5
Volume 3 Number 6
Volume 3 Number 7
Volume 3 Number 8
Volume 3 Number 9
Volume 3 Number 10
Volume 3 Number 11
Volume 2012 Number 1

i2P Archives

Health Politics

EPublications

Click here for a list of epublications

Is a pharmacist in your team selection?

• Printer-friendly version
• Send to friend
• PDF version
• Share

Rollo Manning articles by this author...

Rollo Manning has experienced pharmacy practice from all sectors of the industry – retail, administrative, policy and remote Aboriginal practice. He spent 10 years with Glaxo Australia and was the first Director of Public Relations at the Pharmacy Guild National Secretariat in Canberra. He has also held the position of Pharmacy Policy Officer for Territory Health Services in Darwin. Rollo is currently a Consultant working in his own practice with remote Aboriginal communities, in Northern Australia.

Pharma-Goss for August 2010
When selecting a team to participate in a primary health care review of the diagnosis and management of hypertension patient one would hope that a pharmacist would be a natural selection.
But in the case of a paper published recently in Australian Family Physician (http://www.racgp.org.au/afp/201007/201007howes.pdf) a pharmacist did not rate a mention in the panel set up to identify the problems associated with diagnosing hypertension and maintaining a dose that suited the needs of the patient with maximum adherence.

open this article full screen

The study was done in Tasmania at a large medical clinic with the purpose of constructing a scenario that would overcome the barriers to diagnosing and managing hypertension. A pharmacist did not rate a mention in the mix of practitioners that could contribute to the maintenance of prescribed treatment and make adjustments to the dose to meet the patient needs.

At a time when poly pharmacy, side effects, drug interactions and medical literacy are of concern surely a pharmacist would add to the value of the cost to both the PBS and the MBS. – but no mention.

It is easy to postulate a number of reasons why this could be so and included at the top of the list for this writer is the physical location of the pharmacy practice. The sooner pharmacy businesses can be located in GP practices the better and if this means the company owning the practice owning the pharmacy then so be it if it is to make it happen. For 50 years now we have seen the changes in the profile of the medical practice from the sole operating GP in town to the multi purpose clinics and now GP Super Clinics. There has not been the same change to the practice of pharmacy which has maintained its spot down the road alongside other retail outlets.

It is time for official pharmacy to acknowledge that a pharmacy in the GP practice should be first choice and simply make it happen. The few examples around Australia point to the lack of commitment on the part of pharmacists to want to see it happen.

Remove the shackles, untie the chains and get in there and do it – the future of the profession depends on this action. If pharmacists do not change others will make that change happen for them. Do not be surprised if a medical practice pops up with a pharmacist on site and paid for by the PBS income from the surgery.

And please do not come up with that argument about a vested interest between the prescriber and the dispenser. For years pharmacists have been living with that “vested interest” when prescribing and selling over the counter medicines so don’t stretch the truth when it counts to try and block out another owner operator of a pharmacy business. What is best for the patient? – that must be paramount.

Women still prefer doctors for emergency contraception
A recent study has shown that many Australian women are still unaware that emergency contraception is available without a prescription and many still prefer to obtain it from a doctor.
A national survey of more than 600 women found that less than half were aware that emergency contraception was available from pharmacies without a prescription.
The survey results, published in Contraception, show that 85% preferred to get their information about emergency contraception from a doctor. Most women thought pharmacists should only have a limited role in providing emergency contraception, with only 47% saying they thought it was the pharmacist’s role to give contraceptive advice. Other concerns included privacy and confidentiality issues and feeling uncomfortable discussing contraception in a pharmacy setting.
The survey found widespread misunderstanding of emergency contraception. One in three women mistakenly believed emergency contraception was an abortifacient like Mifeprostone (‘RU486’), and more than half believed emergency contraception may cause birth defects or miscarriage.
Nearly all women had heard of emergency contraception and 26% of women said they had used it. The main barrier to use of emergency contraception were  women not thinking they were at risk of pregnancy, whereas cost did not appear to be a barrier to its use.
The study authors, from the La Trobe University in Melbourne, say the findings suggest that a media campaign is needed to increase awareness of the availability of emergency contraception and to correct the poor knowledge about how it works.
So what is “pharmacy” waiting for? Why is there no aggressive marketing of this market opportunity?
Could it be that the masses are not really confident in this area of medicine and reluctant to be out there spruiking from the rooftops? Or maybe there are still some religious beliefs around that are placing a moral judgement on whether a public service should be allowed even though it is entirely legal.

Wages for new graduates not shaping up
No wonder the Early Career Pharmacists are concerned about their future when the present portrays such uncertainty about whether they are wanted or not in community pharmacy practice. Pharmacy graduates showed that their median income was the lowest of all graduates at a median of $35,000 a year. Highest were dentists at $70,000 then optometry at $64,500 and engineering at $57,500.

The survey was conducted by Graduate Careers Australia across 122,000 graduates. The median across all bachelor degree graduates was $48,000 showing pharmacy as being well down in the order. Graduates in humanities and social sciences were above pharmacy at $42,000.

The two professionals at the head of the list – dentists and optometrists – each in the health sector - concentrate entirely on what their raining equips them for – mouths and eyes. Pharmacists on the other hand have that retail side of their operations which undoubtedly effects the wages paid. Maybe when the consultancy side of the pharmacy profession gets ahead with fees and charges things will change but this will largely depend on quantifiable outcomes towards health gains.

Quote of the Month

When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to
be free.

Charles Evans Hughes
(1862-1948, American jurist, politician)

Send your subject suggestions to Pharma-Goss for comment.

Edited by Rollo Manning at rollom@iinet.net.au.

Clinical Newsfeed

Click here to read more...

Research Reports

Practice Development

Information Technology

Indigenous Health

Preventive Medicine

i2P Alliance Partners