EDITORIAL

Once more we come to the end of a calendar year, as well as the end of the 2003 publishing cycle for i2P E-Magazine.

With 2003 has come complexity.
Pharmacy problems that have arisen over the year are becoming harder to deal with, because they need a long term, step-by-step approach to resolve, to enable adjustment and progress.
Our major retail competitors are doing this better than we are.

This applies equally to the research needed to develop and write articles that have relevance for pharmacists in their day-to-day strategic decisions.
It requires a higher degree of focus and depth to write material today, than it did when we first began publishing.
The production of i2P E-Magazine has become weightier, needing a lot more valuable time to produce each edition.

So for the writers who have contributed over the year I sincerely thank you all, because it has been a toll on their valuable personal and business time. They have donated their skills freely to pharmacists without reservation.
For the readers who have made suggestions and debated with writers individually, as well as with the editor, I also thank you.
Without some form of feedback, it is difficult to set a direction.
If you like/dislike what is written then tell us about it, either quietly with each writer, or publicly by letter.
Your interaction is vital and appreciated.

i2P is aimed at a strategic leadership audience.
If you are looking to make a quick buck, i2P is not for you.
If you are looking to set goals and build a business/practice that has a future, then i2P has a range of options for you, provided you come with the management and professional skills to recognise and implement the opportunities presented.

2004 is about to present a range of challenges that have been unprecedented, and pharmacists will need to be quick on their feet.
They will need a range of resources - information, financial, human and a range of physical assets with a high proportion of computerisation within.
Those who build into each of these areas slowly, but surely, will progressively win out.
Those who attack the problem in panic, or who are looking for instant results, forget about it.
You will fail.

Information management is set to be the primary management challenge for the next five years, and I commend you to read material submitted by Peter Sayers and Pat Gallagher in this issue.
Pat's articles need to be revisited in light of the increasing awarenes that is now expanding in community pharmacy around the issues of information management.

Are you ready to share information with your suppliers and associates?
Are you geared up to transmit safely and securely (encrypted) using a system that does not rely on e-mail and its attendant problems?
Are you insisting on seamless integration between the platforms of all your systems (hardware and software)?

Changes that are urgently required may need you to get out of your complacent cocoon and instruct your leaders as to what they should be doing.
Don't accept the "top down" structure that has been holding pharmacy back for decades.

Make your leaders work for you, as they are supposed to.
This will not happen unless you are capable of articulating clearly what your needs are.
The clock is ticking in the "extra time" frame and is running out fast.

Despite all this, have an enjoyable and peaceful Festive Season with your families,
and I hope you return refreshed in the New Year to take up the battle.

Neil Johnston
December 2003

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