Pharmacy on the Edge
NEIL JOHNSTON
Management Consultant Perspective

On the 24th March 2004, a conference was held in the Rydges Hotel, Jamison St, Sydney (The Australian Pharmaceutical Summit).
I was a speaker at that conference, and presented a paper titled "Pharmacy on the Edge".
Perhaps it needed to be more accurately titled "Pharmacy over the Edge".
The conference embraced most of the elements that make up the pharmaceutical industry and was characterised by the general feeling that community Pharmacy had already lost the ownership battle.
There was a general feeling that Pharmacy needed, and should, be protected.
However protection did not extend to exclusive ownership.
There was also a feeling that Woolworths is telling a lot of people a lot of things that they want to hear, and that the integrity of their statements is not being tested.
Given that this is an election year, the PGA needs to be seen to be at its "rough and tumble" best in dealing with our political masters, no holds barred.
I cannot shake the feeling that all major decisions have been already made, including ACCC approval of a pharmacy takeover (Gordon Samuels was recently quoted as saying he could not see the difference between a pharmacy inside Woolworths, adjacent to Woolworths or across the mall from Woolworths).
While the PGA have an excellent record of political lobbying, they have a woeful record in terms of shackling community pharmacy, to the extent that it is now unable to defend itself in an open market place.

The price is about to be exacted, as all the predators circle Pharmacy to pick its bones and take the juciest morsels unto themselves.
If everything goes according to the Woolworths plan, the PGA may indeed find that its credibility with pharmacists will plummet so low, a new leadership group will need to emerge.

PHARMA-GOSS
With Rollo Manning
A regular column reporting the news behind the news

* A CHANGE NEEDED
* DOES GRAEME SAMUEL READ i2P NEWSLETTER?
* STUDENTS NEED TO BE LISTENED TO
* THE ASPIRATIONS CHANGE

Strategies for pharmacy in the 21st century :
Discourses with Kevin McAnuff
CON BERBATIS
Pharmacy Researcher Perspective

Editor's Note: Kevin McAnuff was a highly respected Western Australian Pharmacist who recently passed away.
He operated a community pharmacy in Shenton Park in the 1980s and the Brentwood pharmacy since 1991.
In 1985 he was elected to the Pharmaceutical Council of Western Australia and in 1991 became its president .
Kevin McAnuff had a quick repartee and good grasp of complex issues that prepared him for his most important contribution to pharmacy nationally - a key member of the negotiating team for the Third Agreement (2000-2005) and of the management committee implementing initiatives of the Agreement..
He passed away while in Canberra preparing for the Fourth Agreement.
Con Berbatis highlights some of the thinking and strategies of this visionary pharmacist.

To Dream the impossible (?) Dream
KEN STAFFORD
Consultant Pharmacist Perspective

The anticipation was building as I opened my treasure, a 100 year old copy of The Australian Journal of Pharmacy.
What prized bits of history would I find as I perused the crinkled pages of my profession's past?
Would I be able to see the genesis of clinical services to the community or pharmacy's first tentative steps out from the restrictive supply functions that had dogged pharmacists for many decades?
As I contemplated the role of pharmacists today I eagerly looked for pearls of wisdom from the writers, skilled practitioners I'm sure, to indicate how pharmacy's leaders of that time had guided the profession to its current status.

Knowledge Architecture
BRETT CLARK
Internet Pharmacy Perspective

In just over three years, ePharmacy has evolved from an idea with one employee to become one of Australia's leading internet pharmacies employing over seventy staff with multiple revenue steams.
However, it has become rapidly apparent to the ePharmacy management that the competitive advantage created by being a "first market mover" could easily be eroded, and that the environment that fosters innovation is paramount to future growth strategies.
It is with this realisation that ePharmacy has recently attempted to develop a knowledge management system (KMS) to facilitate continual e-commerce innovation internally, support the deployment of a new franchise concept, as well as transfer knowledge from experienced staff and management to those new to the organization.
It is the knowledge created by ePharmacy that sustains their competitive advantage (Anell & Wilson, 2002), cultivates returns from the market, which in turn fosters continued growth. (Nonaka & Konno 1998)

A New Look for an Old Friend
KARALYN HUXHAGEN
PSA Councilor Perspective

The Australian Pharmaceutical Formulary and Handbook has always been a valuable tool to pharmacists.
The pharmacies that I have worked in have always carefully kept and treasured their old copies as these contained formulas for extemporaneous products of a bygone era.
I have my favourite formulas noted in the back pages, for example, Shaw's cocktail.
I have also added in any other notes of worth when preparing extemporaneous products.

Between the Lines
HEATHER PYM
Division of General Practice Perspective

Lessons between the lines for pharmacists, inspired by a GP's commentary.
An article (tongue in cheek) but with some truth and a lesson between the lines in the Medical Observer of March 19th, brings up the issue of doctors and pharmacists and the professional tension that may or may not still lie somewhere out there, in a clever "humerus"column.
Acknowledging that pharmacists are still top of the most trusted tree above nurses, marginally, and then our medico colleagues, the justice when compared to the respective situations of pharmacists and medicos is questioned.

Osteoarthritis - A Proven Complementary Approach
VAL JOHANSON
Complementary Healthcare Council Perspective

Editor's Note: It is not so long ago that herbal medicine was the norm for pharmacy dispensing.
Known as extemporaneous medicine, prepared from basic "galenicals", it constituted at least 80 percent of a pharmacist's compounding time, circa 1960.
I have often thought that the replacement of this area of medicine in pharmacy, with higher potency manufactured alternatives, was done with little thought or cost/benefit analysis.
As recently as 24th March, 2004, glucosamine was highlighted at the Australian Pharmaceutical Summit Conference as being an effective and cheaper alternative to orthodox preparations, particularly NSAIDs.
Val Johanson echoes these comments in providing the following article.

Flu Vaccine - lets make a decision
SIMON RUDDERHAM
New Community Pharmacist Perspective

As winter rolls in, we are once again reminded by drug company representatives of the dangers of suffering from the flu for the elderly and workers who simply cannot afford to take days off.
In the three short winters that I have worked in community pharmacy, there is one issue that remains constant.

Woolworths Rx Behaving Badly
JAMES ELLERSON
Marketing Consultant Perspective

What a complex web we weave.
In an election year, we have the Federal Government, through National Competition Policy (NCP), forcing changes to the NSW Pharmacy Act, that could lead to an eventual and total deregulation of the pharmacy marketplace.
Further momentum was given when ACCC boss, Graeme Samuels, said that he did not have a problem with pharmacies being located inside a Woolworths supermarket.
Graeme Samuels, prior to his appointment, was noted as being sympathetic to the ambitions of the "big end of town".

Is There a Digital Future for You?
LES BRENER
Digital Imaging Perspective

Editor's Note: Les Brener is an ex-pharmacist who is heavily involved in the promotion of digital imaging.
The umbrella organisation looking after this area of the photographic market is the Photo Marketing Association's Pharmacy Group.
Community pharmacists interested in developing this fascinating lifestyle market, should consider attending the PMA Annual Convention in Darling Harbour, on the afternoon of Sunday 23rd May.
For details, contact PMA Consultant Les Brener, who is assisting the group
(lesbrener@ozemail.com.au or phone (02) 9360-6504 or alternatively the PMA Australian Office on (02)9663-5880).
The PMA will hold its annual convention at Darling Harbour from May 20th to 23rd, and includes a Digital Imaging Day conference.
Les Brenner has agreed to write for i2P e-magazine, from the perspective of a pharmacy positioning in the rapidly emerging digital imaging market, as well as comment on the industry at large, its trends and the type of competition faced by participants.