Editorial
Welcome to the May 2012 homepage edition of i2P-Information to Pharmacists. Rollo Manning has been having some time out having staples removed from the site of his open heart surgery.He is now at home recuperating in Darwin, having arrived home last Friday, beating a cold and hasty retreat from Canberra.We all wish him a speedy recovery and hopefully, he will be fit enough to contribute by next month.
This month, Pharmedia discusses the toll that is taken when someone complains about you to an authority without good cause. Well, the good news is that you can now take action to protect yourself if such a complaint is made, and that may even include action for defamation. Read about a recent case involving two doctors, with Mark Coleman drawing on personal experience to illustrate.
Columns
Loretta Marron BSc: Health Watch
Barry Urquhart: Marketing Focus
Harvey Mackay: Strategic Thinking
Mark Neuenschwander: I`ve been thinking about...Recent Comments
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EPublications
Pipeline for February 2012
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Pipeline brings you news "bytes" from everywhere. | |
A range of global and local news snippets and links that may be of interest to readers.
Pipeline Extras simply broadens the range of topics that can be concentrated in one delivery of i2P to your desktop.
* No indications allowed: how you can help!
Boots Pharmacies had their knuckles rapped recently for listing medical conditions in their in-store, point-of-sale (POS) advertising of homeopathic products by the medicines regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
The products — made for Boots by A Nelson & Co Ltd — are not licensed with therapeutic indications, ie they are not allowed to say what medical conditions the manufacturers think they can be used to treat.
This isn't because — as many homeopathists would have us believe — there is some big conspiracy against homeopathy, but because, for the homeopathic products registered with the MHRA, not one jot of scientific evidence of their efficacy is required as part of that registration. Advertising the products with therapeutic indications would therefore be misleading.
* Federal Government urged to withdraw all support for private health insurance
As the Government mounts its case for means testing of private health insurance rebates, a new report urges the Government to withdraw all support for private health insurance, on equity and efficiency grounds.
The report says private health insurance should be viewed as a form of industry assistance which subsidises queue jumping. It “is administratively expensive (technically inefficient in economists’ terms), distorts incentives and choices (allocatively inefficient), and does not satisfy any reasonable criteria of equity.”
* Vitamin D and Fertility in Men and Women
Every year, billions are spent in fertility clinics; the result of which is often in vitro fertilization (IVF). About 5 years ago, I began receiving emails from a nurse practitioner in Indiana who works in a fertility clinic. Her experience was dramatic; 5,000 IU/day for both the man and woman frequently resulted in a healthy baby. However, her last email to me was quite sad, she was in danger of losing her job as her boss, a gynecologist, was losing money due to vitamin D. He ordered her to stop advocating it or lose her job.
* Trans Tasman Ministerial Council agrees foundations for joint therapeutic products regulator
A joint Australia New Zealand Therapeutic products regulation scheme moved one step closer today when Ministers from both countries met in Melbourne for the first meeting of the Australia New Zealand Therapeutic Products Agency Implementation Ministerial Council.The meeting, chaired by Australian Health Minister, the Hon Tanya Plibersek MP and comprising the Hon Tony Ryall MP, New Zealand Minister for Health, the Hon Craig Foss MP New Zealand Minister for Commerce and the Hon David Bradbury MP, Australian Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, discussed and agreed on key elements to establish a joint Trans-Tasman therapeutic products regulator.
* Business Numbers Rise (in Australia)
The number of actively trading businesses in Australia increased by 3.6% in 2009-10 and 0.4% in 2010-11 according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). This is due to an increase in new business registrations, as well as a decline in the exit rate of businesses.
In June 2011, Australia had more than 2.1 million businesses. The greatest number of Australian businesses were in the construction industry (17%), followed by professional, scientific and technical services (12%) and rental, hiring and real estate services (11%).
Both the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry and the manufacturing industry have recorded a decline in numbers every year since 2007.
In 2009-10, every state and territory recorded an increase in the number of businesses. However, in 2010-11, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania all recorded a decrease in business numbers.
With the vast majority (96%) of Australian businesses being small businesses, in June 2011 the ABS found that:
* Over two million businesses employed less than 20 staff (including 1.3 million businesses who did not employ any staff); and
* Over two million businesses had an annual turnover of less than $2 million.
Further details can be found in Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits (cat. no. 8165.0), available for free download from the ABS website www.abs.gov.au
Last Month
On January17, internationally recognized plant pathologist Dr. Don Huber, wrote a letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack warning of the discovery of a new pathogen and a possible link between Roundup Ready® (GMO) corn and soybeans and severe reproductive problems in livestock as well as widespread crop failure.
Less than 3 weeks later, the Obama administration approved 2 new Roundup Ready® GMO crops, set to be planted this spring... Read on about Dr. Huber's discovery.
* Survey results show extent of patient trauma from stock shortages
Half of pharmacists have seen patients' health damaged by shortages in branded medicines, with some customers suffering "severe emotional trauma" as a result, a C+D survey has found.
Of the 150 pharmacy employees completing the C+D Stocks Survey 2011, 49 per cent had seen stock shortages affecting patients in the past year. And 64 respondents reported incidents of patient harm, with one diabetic patient suffering a hyperglycaemic episode while waiting for their medication.
* Salmonella outbreak victims entitled to compo: law firm
ACT Health said at least five cases had been linked to a local business, reported to be a bakery in suburban Kingston.
A law firm says victims of an outbreak of salmonella in Canberra, which has left five in hospital, could be entitled to compensation.
Salmonella had been identified in mayonnaise containing raw egg, the territory's chief health officer Dr Paul Kelly said.
The premises are closed for cleaning and high-risk foods have been destroyed.
Further tests of food and environmental samples are pending.
* Sleep easy at The Gardens
Restless sleep is rarely a p! roblem at Tasmanian aged care facility, The Gardens, after implementing a novel way of helping residents with dementia sleep. The initiative, is led by education manager and nurse..
* Pfizer slashes staff and research as patent expires
THE blockbuster drug model is “broken”, according to a Lancet editorial, as Pfizer slashes staff and research budgets with the expiry last week of atorvastatin’s (Lipitor) patent...
* Junk food self-regulation ‘not working’
DOCTOR and consumer groups have called on the government to crack down on junk food advertising, after a report found no evidence that industry regulation had reduced the number of ads seen by kids...
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Research Reports
Dr Richard Hallinan B Med FAChAM (RACP): X-Concord 2012 Seminar Summary - “Benzodiazepines and dependence”, with an emphasis on people on opioid pharmacotherapies | open full screen
Staff Researcher: Encouraging news for heart patientsPractice Development
Gerald Quigley: Don’t Give Up
Chris Foster: Seventeen Handy Tax Planning Tips for 2012
Kay Dunkley - BPharm, Grad Dip Hosp Pharm, Grad Dip Health Admin, MPS, MSHPA: Taking care of pharmacists’ health – what is it worth? | open full screen
Peter Sayers: The Climate Change in Evidence-based medicine
Neil Johnston: An Evidence-Based Conversation Between Ken Harvey, Gerald Quigley and Neil Johnston | open full screen
Neil Johnston: An Evidence-Based Conversation Between Ken Harvey, Gerald Quigley and Neil Johnston- Part 2 | open full screen
Kay Dunkley - BPharm, Grad Dip Hosp Pharm, Grad Dip Health Admin, MPS, MSHPA: Tax time – a donation to PSS is a gift to your profession and a deduction for you | open full screen
Information Technology
Neil Retallick: Good news for community pharmacy from the Minister of Agriculture | open full screen
Dr Ian Colclough: While doctors remain disempowered doctor shoppers needing help will die. | open full screen
Dr David More: Australian Health Information Technology Links to 30 April 2012Preventive Medicine
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