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EDITORIAL

Your Identity- Can You Prove Who You Are?
NEIL JOHNSTON
Management Consultant Perspective

Recently, some of my neighbors warned me that they have found envelopes in their mailbox torn open, and that they suspected some of their letters had gone missing.
Mindless vandalism, or was it someone trying to steal an identity?
If the experts are correct, identity theft is set to become one of the most popular criminal pastimes into the immediate future.

Australia's Best Address?
ROLLO MANNING
An Indigenous/Rural/Isolated/Remote Perspective

Who would not want to live here?
Climate, cricket and catching opportunities.
Test cricket has come to Darwin after $2.5 million dollars was spent on Marrara Oval to bring it up to a standard all Territorians would be proud of when the place is on show to the cricketing world.
Not to be outdone by the climate, comfort and friendliness of the locals, the Australian team, lead by Steve Waugh, established records of its own by having the greatest wicket taking opening bowlers in Australian cricket history (McGrath and Gillespie) and Steve himself who has now scored a century against every Test cricket playing nation.

Who Will Carry the Baby?
KEN STAFFORD
Consultant Pharmacist Perspective

Two recent stories in the local media started me thinking about current trends in the health professions and the impact of litigation on the future.
The first story was a report on the Supreme Court decision awarding damages to parents where the wife conceived after undergoing tubal ligation ie a failed surgical procedure.
The surgeon was deemed to have been negligent and made liable to support the child to the age of eighteen.
How does this apply to pharmacy you may ask?

Dispensary Assistant Boost
KARALYN HUXHAGEN
PSA Councilor Perspective

I have written previously about workforce problems and the need for pharmacists and department managers to re-examine the roles that pharmacy assistants can perform in the workplace.
A very exciting project that has gained funding under the Research and Developments Grants Program of the Third Community Pharmacy Agreement is the 'Workforce and Career Options for Pharmacy Assistants".See....
http://www.guild.org.au/public/researchdocs/pharm_assist_tender.pdf

Paying For Service
HEATHER PYM
A Division of General Practice Perspective

Paying for Service - first class or less (you choose) - this time for Medical service.
Some interesting discussions have been going on this week around the concept of paying for service and distinguishing elements of service available.
This is common practice you say!
It is in most arenas where service is important.
You pay for what you get and you can have a choice-if you are prepared to pay.

Woolworths & Pharmacy
MARK COLEMAN
Medical Centre Perspective

It is some time since I have submitted an article for this publication, but I was moved to do so when I came across an editorial by well-known Radio 2GB commentator, Alan Jones.
Given that pharmacy is quite often "shafted" by the media, it was a pleasant surprise to see that a media personality was defending pharmacy, and opposing someone else who was "shafting" pharmacy.
Not only that, it was the second time he had commented in pharmacy's defence in recent times.

Software Hijack Through Patenting
JAMES ELLERSON
Marketing Consultant Perspective

One of the more curious arrangements Australia has negotiated with the US, is that under certain circumstances, software can be patented if it demonstrates novelty and uniqueness. New Zealand also appears to be part of this legislative framework, but most other countries around the world, particularly Europe, have not sanctioned legislation of this type

Postscript to Pan
NEIL JOHNSTON
Management Consultant Perspective

In the wake of the PAN recall, there is now a search for ideas and innovations to minimise the effects of future recalls.
Leaving aside the TGA method of action against PAN, and the subsequent politically motivated inquiry into the complementary medicines industry by Kay Patterson, Minister for Health and Aging and Parliamentary Secretary Trish Worth, what innovation is actually being investigated for community pharmacy?

Sick Students Need Hospital Stay
LACHLAN ROSE
From a Student Perspective

During the enigmatically termed "holidays", a number of final year pharmacy students have opted to participate in rural placements. Three 50-hour pharmacy placements are required to be completed over the course of a year as part of the course requirements. Students have literally been sent all over NSW and the reports are slowly filtering in.

Are Technicians the Answer?
SIMON RUDDERHAM
Newly Registered Pharmacist Perspective

With pharmacists being in short supply, there has been a move to allow dispensary technicians to hold a greater role in the "more menial tasks" such as dispensing, and handing out schedule three medicines.
This is an interesting move, and one fraught with danger, both for the public and for pharmacy in general.

BLACK COHOSH & THE CASE FOR MORE APPROPRIATE RESEARCH INTO COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINES
BEN FARRELL
A Complementary Healthcare Perspective

Editor's Note:
The recent PAN recall, triggered by the faulty manufacture of an orthodox medication, eventuated in one of those accidents of history where a large component of the recall involved complementary medicines.
This latter aspect of the recall was then translated by various politicians, the media, and those of the medical/pharmaceutical professions opposed to the use of complementary medicines in any form, into a full scale investigation into complementary medicines.
How a breach of good manufacturing practice takes on this format involves a quantum leap in imagination, and those people decrying the "lack of evidence" for complementray medicines in the form of a "broad brush", need to review the "evidence" which has led them into joining what can only be described as a form of mass hysteria.
In the interest of fairness I contacted the Complementary Healthcare Council (CHC), the very professional organisation which represents complementary medicines and practitioners in Australia.
I offered them a page in this publication so that an educative process can occur in regard to this industry. Ben Farrell has responded on behalf of the CHC.
There is a body of evidence to support complementary medicines, and it is progressively expanding.
If any person reading this material wishes to debate the pros and cons, then please feel free to respond.
It is my belief that complementary medicines are effective in varying degrees, and it is quite possible that the efficacy of some individual products may prove to be doubtful.
But doesn't this also apply to orthodox medicine?
For example, how valid was the "evidence" that allowed synthetic hormonal combinations on the market in the form of HRT?
Is HRT safe?
Some of the "evidence" seems to indicate that it is not.
Is this being investigated?

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