Published by Computachem Services

P.O Box 297.
Alstonville. 2477
NSW Australia

Phone:
61 2 66285138

Priceline Pharmacy Plans
By Neil Johnston

The fairly low key announcement of a Priceline Pharmacy opening in Packenham, Victoria, does not seem to have attracted much in the way of pharmacy media attention.
I suggest that all readers of this e-magazine place Priceline on their "watch" list, for it appears that they have a global strategy, and Australia will be the fulcrum for its planned expansion.
Who is Priceline?

Retailing Complementary Medicines :
Standards, Technology and the Need for a Common Solution
By Trevor Bamford

Trevor Bamford is a graduate of Biological Science from the University of Queensland and a student of Natural Medicine at the Australian College of Natural Medicine.
He has been involved in the Complementary Healthcare industry since 1985 through an involvement with his family health food business and through employment with a national distributor organisation.
More recently he has become known as a major proponent of broad industry supply chain reform through E-Commerce and Strategic Planning. He has spent considerable time canvassing the Complementary Medicine (CM) industry to address issues of standards for e-commerce in order to improve efficiency and value in the supply chain, from the retail level up.
Trevor also believes that there are potential alliances that can be forged between pharmacy and the CM Industry.
Perhaps there are alliance opportunities at the wholesaler end?
Read on with interest, and note some of the similarities between the two industries.

Perception is Reality-or is it?
By Ken Stafford

"Consultant pharmacy, in the country, is difficult to implement" or so I was told during a country visit made last week.
The large country town I was in has no less than four accredited consultant pharmacists, two of whom spent time telling me how hard it is to carry out reviews due to lack of locum cover.
The perception, held by both pharmacists and the local division of general practice, is that it is impossible to attract pharmacists to the bush.
Editor's Note: See Ayron Teed's article further down as a possible solution to problems as outlined by Ken Stafford.

Pharmacy Graduates: Underpaid or Selfish?
By Simon Rudderham

Recently on pharmacy's most popular newsgroup, the issue of pre-registration students and appropriate wages/conditions has been raised.
In my opinion, this is not a simple case of overzealous, self important pre-registration students vs. evil profiteering pharmacy owners and organisations.
It can affect the intake of pharmacy students, the supply/demand ratio of preceptors and graduates, and pharmacy's current reassignment of duties from supply to information.

More on Managing (to get) Locums
By Ayron Teed

In the last issue I outlined the success and the positive outcomes of keeping the Rainbow Community Pharmacy running entirely with locum pharmacists.
In a such a short chapter it may have seemed that I had magical powers. This was not the case. I had many difficulties - but I did have a clear goal of what I wanted to achieve. This meant that I had to evaluate the business and plan to achieve those ends.

Reflections on the Grand Final
By Heather Pym

How many pharmacists when thinking 'quality use of medicines' seriously consider life style as a considerable contributing factor to better outcomes?
How many of us when counseling patients on prescription drugs, OTCs and the complementary range of products increasingly sold over our counters speak of 'life style' factors to the purchasers?
Having just finished watching the Lions and the Magpies fight it out on the MCG in front of 100,000 spectators I could not but reflect on the QUM program the Division has at the moment where the 'drug' information I am discussing with GPs is quite meaningless without the discussion on the life style evidence.
For many of the 100,000 spectators, popping a pill is still the solution to their hypertension, diabetes or dyslipidaemia problem.

TrialCards-An Ethical System for Drug Samples
(Should This be Part of the BMMS?)
By Peter Sayers

Information Technology (IT) is beginning to bring permanent change to the healthcare systems around the world, in new ways that many of us have never thought of.
Because of the Internet, smart cards and all the other communication devices and systems that have sprung up in this new revolution, we are seeing old systems completely turned on their head and being replaced with newer versions.
Pharmacists should be alert to these developments no matter where they occur around the world, and move to adapt these new technologies within their own professional practice, to create opportunity, and an "edge" on competitors.
One such system which shows promise is "TrialCard".

Postcards From The Coalface
By Terry Irvine

Editor's Note:
Terry Irvine works in a busy rural pharmacy in NSW, and we ask him to write to us on a regular basis, to keep us in touch with what is actually happening in the trenches, in the daily battle that is community pharmacy.
While Terry's thoughts are highly individual and personal, they are delivered to readers to share, digest and compare.
Perhaps those community pharmacists who are finding the increasing complexity of the daily grind in community pharmacy a bit hard to bear, may take some solace in a similar experience.
Complexity is an increasing problem within the Pharmacy Profession, and the regulators, while having a perfectly valid (in their view) reason for regulating procedures down to the mini-micro level, leave nothing for the quality of life, and contribute significantly to escalating pharmacist stress levels.
I think this is well illustrated in Terry's current "Postcard from the Coalface".

PBS Overspending:Curb the Waste to Curb the Cost
By Rollo Manning

The Cost of the PBS is in the news again with the Government attempting to increase the patient co-payment as a means of maintaining the viability of the scheme. This article looks at alternatives and will be followed by an analysis of the interest groups that contribute to the increasing costs of the PBS

Job Hunting Begins
By Andrew Snow

It's week nine of Fourth Years' last semester at University.
The talk on everyone's lips is "Where will you be next year?".
There is a vast range of interests, from students wanting to work within the city, rural, interstate, within both community and hospital pharmacies.
I would like to propose to all the pharmacists out there, if they do require a preregistration student, to contact me if they would like any advertisements on the employment notice board in the pharmacy corridor.
Editor's Note: There is also a special area within the Computachem e-classifieds for students to register their details and availability. Enter through the "Employment" link in the navigation bar at the top of this page.

Complexity and Pharmacy Payments
By Jon Aldous

While employee pharmacists have generally benefited from healthy market wage rates and flexible conditions the same cannot be said for pharmacy graduates, or public hospital pharmacists who are tied to their award conditions.

URGENT CALL FOR PHARMACISTS

You are directed to the advertisement immediately below this text, which has been placed by one of our writers, Karalyn Huxhagen.
Karalyn manages a busy pharmacy in Mackay, Queensland, which has suddenly lost one of its pharmacists.
She is a busy PSA councilor and is involved in many other pharmacy and community activities, so if you can give her a hand, we will all benefit.
For one, i2P will regain a valuable writer, who is now so busy and fatigued, she is unable to think.
Mackay is a pretty good lifestyle area, so you can't really lose.

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