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In a recent E-newsletter article I stressed the importance of Pharmacy advertising its professional services, and its abilities, in order to promote awareness of the services available in community pharmacies.
This is particularly pertinent now that we are in the implementation phase of the Domiciliary Medication Management Review (DMMR) programme.

The need for this advertising again cropped up to me recently when speaking to a non-pharmacist friend about the prices for over-the-counter (OTC) items.
It was a sobering experience for someone only 12 months out of Pharmacy School and still enthused about the future of our profession.
The conversation started when I suggested that the price she had paid was not the cheapest I'd seen, and she replied:
"Pharmacy Direct would be cheaper... but for the postage".
I probed to find out where she'd gotten onto Pharmacy Direct (her doctor of course!).
No disrespect to Peter Brown intended, but I remarked that you miss out on some of the service from a community pharmacy when you use mail order.
The reply shot back:
"What service... you send in the script, they send you the medication".

I decided against filling her in on all the benefits of having a regular community pharmacy because it was off-topic, but the thoughts stayed in my head.
This is only one isolated case, but you can be sure there are many more like it.

I remember working in a Pharmacist Advice and the not inconsiderable number of patients who found it an imposition to sit down and talk about their prescription. They were a significant minority, but the others had probably decided to take their custom elsewhere in the past.
So while a large proportion of the patient population is not aware of the many professional services they receive from their pharmacies, you have to wonder what percentage of patients won't see the benefits of a DMMR?
Most patients seem to appreciate taking the smallest number of pills possible but that is not the sole aim of DMMRs. Some patients may end up taking more medications if pharmacists believe there is under-prescribing.
Will they appreciate that?
It was somewhat heartening that the following night I opened the latest Australian Pharmacist to find an article about a pharmacy in Melbourne which had devoted itself almost entirely to professional services.
A complete "forward pharmacy" model with technicians doing all the dispensing for a team of pharmacists which chatted to patients at purpose designed stations.
Pharmacists also had time devoted to performing medication reviews, and had built a strong relationship with local medicos. One wall appeared to be covered with every piece of health information ever produced, and the lines presented prominently for sale were blood pressure and glucose meters, with some normal "shop" lines stored under benches.
This sort of model does a lot to promote the free professional services we can offer, so one can only hope that if we can continue to showcase this, we can work towards further payments for these services.
It still remains a challenge for Pharmacy to make the patient population aware of all we have to offer.
We see continual media attention paid to the concerns of nurses, teachers etc; but pharmacists seem to attract only negative publicity.
(No doubt if we get the promised GST concessions, community pharmacists will be frowned on by less fortunate small business people.)
Pharmacists are also slipping on the scale of public trust.
Recently we were reported to have slipped to #4, from our former lofty heights as #1 or 2.
It's time to redress the negative publicity and start some positive publicity of our own.
As corny as their jingle might be, Pharmacist Advice is doing a great job at promoting our professional services, and setting benchmarks with their advertising.
This seems to sit in stark contrast to the other groups who seem more concerned with using their advertising to push product, which doesn't do much to differentiate us from any supermarket or chain store, no matter how much health advice framework you put around it.
It's time to acknowledge the intelligence of our patients in perceiving value for money.
If they can't see any value in our professional services, then they'll continue to use supermarkets or settle for mail-order.
We need to re-educate the public about what we can offer before its too late.

Ends

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