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Availability of information on patients' medication.
One
of our patients travelled to Sydney yesterday, had a motor vehicle
accident and is in Liverpool Hospital ("All Saints"
must have been full).
Her daughter contacted us soon after opening and asked us to transmit
her medication schedule by fax to the hospital.
Because we were busy, this took a while to print the list, and
then because the hospital had not turned their fax on, it took
more time to transmit.
If all medication were recorded on computers accessible by health
professionals anywhere, they could have had the information much
sooner, or if she had carried a "smart card" with the
details, that could have been available also.
Editor:
Some of these issues will certainly be addressed by the Better
Medication Management System. You would have to wonder whether
it will be any more effective once established, as it will be
an "opt-in" system for doctors and pharmacists.
This means that there will be a lot of gaps in patient histories.
The fact that the Health Insurance Commission will position itself
along the workflow between doctor and pharmacist also may act
as an initial deterrent.
Will the benefit outweigh the huge establishment costs of such
a system?
The debate on these issues has only just begun, and there is still
a lengthy lead time before a workable model is agreed upon by
all stakeholders.
Availability of information for patients.
A
lady came to the pharmacy with some vague information on an insulin
recall that had been transmitted to her from North Queensland,
where she had collected some insulin about two weeks ago.
She wanted to know if we knew whether it was the insulin she had
in her possession.
We could not locate any information in our paper records of product
recalls.
It would have been nice to have an Internet site immediately available
to us, or even to her as, say a registered user of insulin.
Subsequent searching since I have come home has been less than
satisfactory.
Editor: Sounds like an opening for
some entrepreneurial Internet publisher.
One of the dificulties in locating this type of information is
that it is spread over multiple websites, with no one central
location.
The Internet is great for accessing information, only when you
know where to go, given the pressure on time in a busy pharmacy
environment.
Television
Detailing.
A customer called in and asked for a product that had been advertised
on TV recently, no name or much else was known.
Because we do not have access to all the advertising schedules
we were not able to help.
Internet site/s that provide such information would make everybody
better informed.
Editor:
Comments same as the previous item. TV advertising will increase
for medication items, and if you read Heather Pym's current article
on her recent trip to America, she notes that this form of advertising
creates significant pressure on prescribers.
Placebo
On
a lighter note, a couple brought in what they thought to be tablet
for identification, it had Trebor on one side (Robert backwards!),
and 24-7 on the other.
I suspected a mint, and referral to Woolworths confirmed my theory.
Perhaps MIMS should add these to their identification information,
to placate worried parents!
Editor:
Where does it all stop.
Another free service from pharmacy!
Small
Pharmacies.
Melbourne has at least two in Collins Street, at the Paris end
I believe it is called.
It would be nice for some mechanism to exist that would allow
them to merge, give more service, and look more like serious opposition
to Woolworths and Coles.
While I did not have the time or the motivation I am confident
the Coles Express that is not too far away from these pharmacies
has a much larger area devoted to products that could have been
stocked in the pharmacies, and that was only the OTC stuff they
are allowed to carry.
Editor:
Well i2P has often written about this same problem, pointing out
that if pharmacies were able to adopt company structures, then
creative mergers could occur, using exchanges of different classes
of shares.
Problem is, although the Wilkinson Report recommended such a mechanism,
the various State Governments have yet to get their act together
to enable appropriate legislation.
The longer governments delay, the more acute this problem will
become.
One could be forgiven for thinking that government seems only
intent on giving the "big end of town" the maximum advantage
over small to medium enterprises.
Company structure provides a basis for newly graduated pharmacists
to buy into a pharmacy on a progressive basis, for staff to take
an interest in the business that secures their employment, and
allows for simple merger options for retiring pharmacists (and
their pharmacy), to occur without loss of real value.
So
why the delay?
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