Editorial

From the desk of the editor

Welcome to the May 2013 edition of i2P - Information to pharmacists.
Economic turbulence seems to now be arriving in Australia with forecasts of high inflation rates, which also means high interest rates following on.
This type of economic forecast also means that banks will be more fractious with their borrowers. They are already offside with pharmacy due to the high level of bankruptcies over the past two years.
There is a pent up demand for a general wage increase for pharmacists impacting at a point in this month where pharmacy gross profit generally, is in decline.

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Yamaha VSP-1 ambient noise generator shields your voice during counselling sessions

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Editing and Researching news and stories about global and local Pharmacy Issues

One of the reasons that pharmacies have not adapted to the provision for privacy locations (counselling rooms etc.) is because of the cost to provide, and the space that is taken up.
It's like the "chicken and the egg" - the space may not generate a return because it has to low a usage, but if the is provided in a convenient  and attractive location, usage would increase.
So what are the cheaper alternatives?

In i2P March 2011 edition a Scandinavian solution was illustrated in the form of a "hood light" that generated a "zone of silence" underneath it. This was a realively cheap and efficacious way of creating voice privacy.
In this article we examine some examples of "white noise", which is a special form of sound that neutralises other sounds (such as voices).
Young parents have found that when they bring home a new baby and have it sleep in an air-conditioned room, peace and tranquility prevails.
This is not so much from the cool surroundings, but from the "white noise" generated from the hum of the air-conditioner motor.
When the air-conditioner is shut off in cooler weather, the baby complains and everybody becomes sleep-deprived.
This is because the air-conditioner generated "white noise".
Entrepreneurial developers have taken this idea and installed various "white noises" on  mobile phones that are placed near the baby's cot and played all night.
The idea has caught on globally but microwave exposure may create another long-term health risk yet to be evaluated.
In this article we look at white noise installed in a pharmacy.

It isn't hard to picture the scenarios in a busy pharmacy where you need to discuss some private (and possibly embarrassing) details in public, but on the other hand, it's no good whispering in a noisy environment.
One solution?
Yamaha thinks adding more noise is the way forward.
Announced earlier this month is the VSP-1 noise generator, which is essentially just a speaker box that masks conversations in your desired location.
With its eight specially tuned ambient noise recordings from the seaside, forest, or river, the VSP-1 managed to mask between 47 percent and 89 percent of the conversations in four Japanese pharmacies, and the customers on the other side of the sound wall even enjoyed the soothing sounds.
Alas, Yamaha's little box doesn't come cheap -- you'll have pay around $1,267 for one when it comes out on April 20th.

There will obviously be competitors, so when decisions are being made about the private locations in your pharmacy, start to "think out of the square" for solutions that are efficient, economic and attractive in appearance.
Because more attention is being paid to privacy laws, it affects other professions and businesses as well.
Therefore check out other businesses before making your final decisions.
This is one area that pharmacy shop designers have yet to come to terms with.

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