NEWS AND REVIEWS

THE E-PHARMA CONFERENCE

Last year saw the genesis of the largest and most comprehensive conference built around pharmacy and E-Health. It was organised by an internationally renowned company, specialising in conferences and presentations (IIR), and showcased a wide range of presenters and their subjects, concerning a myriad of topics relating to Information Technology.
This year they are back, bigger and better.On the 29th to 31st May 2002, the E-PHARMA Conference will be held at the Hilton Hotel, Sydney.

Speakers will include:

John Bronger, National President of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, who will express his concerns regarding the e-concept in dispensing drugs to patients. He will also relay the importance of Consumer Medication Information (CMI) in face-to-face consultations.

Frances Walls, Information Management Associate from Bristol-Myers Squibb (USA) who will be talking about e-business strategy and its implementation in the Australian market as a revenue generator.

Jennifer Bodham, Assistant Secretary Better Medication Management System Implementation Taskforce, Department of Health and Ageing, will give a regulatory update on the HealthOnline policy and the latest developments in the Better Medication Management System.

Lou Nulley, General Manager Business Improvement, HIC, will point out what the initiatives are to support e-business tp ensure data is secure and protected.

Three writers from i2P will also be delivering papers:

Rollo Manning will be discussing how he helped to develop the first aboriginal rural and remote pharmacy in Australia for the Tiwi Health Board.

Brett Clark from E-Pharmacy, who will talk about setting up an e-pharmacy and what is involved, developing local, regional and international markets and overcoming various concerns regarding the e-concept.

Neil Johnston, editor of i2P E-Magazine, will talk about how to write for the Internet, using an e-newsletter or e-magazine as a marketing tool, and the various formats that can be developed for any aspect of pharmacy activity.

Many other speakers will be present covering marketing, privacy and other legals aspects, e-prescribing, e-procurement and research and development.
Enquiries for registration and other details can be made directly to Dalya Will of IIR by telephoning (02) 99235090 or by e-mail dwill@iir.com.au

Next month we will publish the full list of speakers and their topics, and we encourage all readers to attend this event, specifically staged for pharmacists.
The Interenet is a reality, and already pharmacy businesses are being affected by those operators astute enough to get to understand the new technology an apply it for their benefit.
You cannot afford to leave your head in the sand.

eTG COMPLETE

One of the "gold standards" of Australian medical and pharmaceutical reference resources is the Theraputic Guidelines. Published by Therapeutic Guidelines Limited, this not-for-profit organisation prepare, publishes and distributes nationally-based independent prescribing guideline books.
Content is developed from some of Australia's top clinicians, and has been available for 23 years.

Now the overall range of Therapeutic Guidelines has been amalgamated on to a CD-ROM, using an HTML format that can be utilised on standalone or networked PC or Mac computers.
This new format allows one search engine to search all publications simultaneously, giving access to over 2000 clinical topics.
This new format has been titled eTG Complete, and is available by annual subscription at a cost of $220 (including GST) plus postage. Students get a concession with an annual subscription of $176 plus posatge. Subscriptions will include regular updates, and subsequent renewals of subscriptions for the following year and beyond will be discounted up to 50 percent.
Multi-user licences are quoted separately.

The Therapeutic Guidelines have previously been presented as a set of ten books which include:

Analgesics, Antibiotics, Cardiovascular, Dermatology, Endocrinology, Gastrointestinal, Neurology, Palliative Care, Psychotropic, Respiratory.

All of these appear on the CD-ROM.

The editor was given a copy of eTG to evaluate and found that it lived up to expectation, the search engine reduced the time to handle a clinical enquiry significantly.
For quality of information updated on a regular and timely basis, you could not bypass this product, and i2P endorses the eTG Complete information resource as a "must" within any pharmacy environment.
Many hospitals already adopt some of the Guidelines e.g Antibiotics, as their own hospital policy, such is the prestige accorded the publication.

Enquiries can be made by telephoning 1800 061 260, fax (03) 9326 5632 or by e-mail sales@tg.com.au