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Pharma News
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James Ellerson: GPs were the ‘gatekeepers’ to the health system. Will they remain so? | open full screen
Chris Wright: Health: The Pollies are playing us as well as Orianthi plays the guitar. | open full screen
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Feature Contribution
Do the Maths - 1200 Graduates a Year and Increasing
Pharmacists graduating within Australia must have a reasonable assurance that on graduation they will have some form of a job available for them, after due diligence and reasonable effort on their part to get themselves recruited.
The current maths do not stack up - 5000 pharmacies to accommodate 1200 graduates nationally, and increasing.
Who is responsible for the planning for graduates?
GPs were the ‘gatekeepers’ to the health system. Will they remain so?
It’s often hard to tell which party is in favour of what outcome when reading some of the media coverage on doctor, pharmacy, nurse practitioner prescribing issues. Here are a few examples to ponder:
• the Guild is opposed to pharmacist prescribing
• pharmacists and nurse practitioners are to be given limited prescribing rights
• most GPs do not actually consult with a patient before issuing a repeat script.
Is eHealth critical to navigating the world of primary care?
Primary health care reform is firmly on the political agenda. For reforms to succeed they must be underpinned by the successful deployment of ehealth; absolutely.
The last decade has witnessed a major lost opportunity for ehealth in Primary Care. Many hundreds of millions of dollars have been wasted on unrealistically ambitious and poorly managed ehealth projects; many of which have failed.
Aptly named Primary Health Care Organisations (PHCO), recently inappropriately renamed ‘Medicare Locals’, will be the centre point of the reform process. Consequently a palpable sense of urgency has developed around ehealth as its central role in the health reform process becomes increasingly apparent to politicians and bureaucrats.
PSA Future of Pharmacy-Technicians to manage dispensing
Comment has been recently made in pharmacy media on the PSA Issues Paper on the “Future of Pharmacy in Australia” in respect of the upskilling of dispensing technicians to dispense without pharmacist oversight.
Comments offered on this aspect included reduced job opportunities for pharmacists, pressure to lower dispensing fees, opportunity to develop clinical services e.g. the ability to perform HMR’s.
No doubt more comment will follow as the paper is digested and potential flow-on impacts are thought through.
Writers will be participating through the pages of the i2P e-magazine to hopefully help build the future version of this PSA paper.
Health: The Pollies are playing us as well as Orianthi plays the guitar.
Our politicians are spinning like fury as we head towards the election and despite the fact their gift for spin doesn’t match Orianthi Panagaris’ gift for playing guitar they are getting away with electoral blue murder.
As for “fixing” the health system, the rhetoric is never matched by performance. After all, it is questionable that “fixing” health actually translates to votes, simply because the money required to make an impact is too great an amount compared to the votes gained…besides “fixing” is subjective anyway.
What is it with pharmacy?
The colleges are churning out Pharmacists at a rate that would embarrass the most discerning “people-smuggler”……..
Apologies for the errant humor leading to an election.
Some 1,200 bright-eyed and bushy-tailed fine and mostly young pharmacists are hitting the job market and will somehow try to squeeze into 5,000 pharmacies.
Worse, a similar number will follow them fairly smartly.
What’s it all about, I wonder?
Looking for answers
Everyone, it seems, is looking for answers. For most there are none “out there”. Those who ask the right questions generally find the right answers “within”.
Solutions abound, looking for problems. Few can define and even fewer recognise the nature and presence of specific problems. Resources are being liberally allocated to furnishing, deploying or paying for preset solutions. Disappointment and dissatisfaction seem inevitable.
Experts are readily accessible. Expertise is harder to find. The business landscape appears to be lush with new green shoots, yet barren. Much like the desert and the Lake Eyre regions of central Australia.
The climates of regions throughout the world are changing. Temperatures are rising. Record cold snaps are also being recorded. Extended dry spells are evident, offset by deluges of flooding proportions.
Prognostications by some economists conclude “boom times” have arrived or are on the near horizon. Many consumers have obviously not heard or read of the confidence building forecasts. They are constraining purchases and outlays. Retailers, particularly smaller entities, are confused, and are finding trading is tough.
In recent times we have worked with clients from a broad spectrum of sectors producing formats, templates and frameworks which enable them to “look within”.
Real riches are being rediscovered, refined and celebrated. Positive and embracing corporate cultures, are being revisited and pride inculcated, because of what made entities great and competitively advantaged in the first instance.
Distinctive symbols and myths are being recognised, valued and applied for internal cohesion, self motivation and for external profiling.
The article text which features later in this transmission unveils and outlines encouraging lessons and principles on the role and nature of a positive corporate culture.
I commend it to the former executives, the players and besieged supporters of the once high achieving, now disgraced Melbourne Storm Rugby League team.
Barry Urquhart
NAPE begs more questions than answers- for the moment
The ideal of having quality continuing pharmacy education, delivered in digestible “bite-sized” chunks plus convenience of delivery at an economical cost has been a dream for pharmacists for as long as I can remember.
With the advent of the new Australian Pharmacy Board there will be requirement for all pharmacists to undertake suitable education to maintain their registration.
While there are many acceptable education streams coming from the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA), the Pharmacy Guild of Australia (PGA) and the Australian College of Pharmacy Practice (ACPP), there is not a high degree of planning to anticipate all pharmacist needs.
For example, the delivery of professional services for a fee – there is no identifiable pathway enabling individual pharmacists to develop a professional practice that could be incorporated into a community pharmacy, a primary health care organisation, a medical centre or other suitable location.
Hmmm, I’m not convinced
A Woolworths “spokesman” (they are all still so very alpha at Woolies) has come out (excuse the expression) and declared the loss of interest in not only their “pharmacy” type trademarks but the industry of pharmacy itself.
980218 Pharmacist at Woolworths and 980219 PHARMACIST @ WOOLWORTHS, both previously registered trade marks, have been cancelled.
3Naturopathy and my Doctor.
To my pleasant surprise the family doctor offered a choice to address a painful problem highlighted by scans.
Acupuncture or an anti-inflammatory drug?
Acupuncture any day thank you, without the fries.
2 
Better patient advice loses out to costly prescription errors
A University of Otago study which shows pharmacists spend too much time seeking clarification for minor prescription errors has prompted a call for greater awareness among doctors and prescribers of this time-wasting problem.
Lead author and School of Pharmacy Senior Lecturer Dr Rhiannon Braund says the study of 20 Dunedin pharmacies found that in most cases unnecessary minor bureaucratic errors were the reason for pharmacists needing to confirm the intent of prescribers - usually doctors.
Study shows Australian quality of life varies widely
A survey of 5000 Australians conducted by the University of Technology Sydney has shown middle aged people express the lowest level in quality of life compared with people in their early 20s or mid 60’s.
The finding which throws the ‘life begins at 40’ cliché into serious doubt is among a number of revelations gained from the study.
Findings of the research will be discussed in a public lecture held at the UTS Great Hall on Tuesday 25 May 2010. Details for the lecture which is open to the public for free can be obtained from the UTS web site www.uts.edu.au/new/speaks/2010/May/2505.htm
Public participation heats up on climate change
Australians believe that climate change is here to stay, but their expectations about the severity of change fall well short of what scientists predict.
This is one of the key findings from a three-year study led by The Australian National University. The Climate Change and the Public Sphere project has interviewed more than 100 randomly selected citizens from the ACT and Goulburn about their views on climate change in various, increasingly severe, situations and how they are likely to react to it in the future.
Killed by cold: heart and stroke deaths peak in winter
* Perth and Sydney lead the country in winter heart-related deaths
* Tasmanians cope best with the cold
* Brisbane not far behind Sydney for winter deaths
* Darwin fares the best because it doesn't get so cold
Rates of cardiovascular disease increase dramatically in Australian winters because many people don't know how to rug up against the cold, a Queensland University of Technology (QUT) seasonal researcher has found.
Traumatic brain injury linked to sleep disturbance
A Monash University study has shown that sleep disturbances and depression symptoms are common among people who have suffered Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
The team of researchers from the School of Psychology and Psychiatry measured in a laboratory setting the sleep of 23 patients with TBI with 23 healthy people who had not suffered trauma.
Study leader, Associate Professor Shantha Rajaratnam said patients with TBI showed increased sleep disturbance and reported poorer sleep quality, and higher anxiety and depressive symptoms than healthy volunteers.
Blood Thinners May Prevent Malaria
New treatments for malaria are possible after Walter and Eliza Hall Institute scientists found that molecules similar to the blood-thinning drug heparin can stop malaria from infecting red blood cells.
Malaria is an infection of red blood cells that is transmitted by mosquitoes.
The most common form of malaria is caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum which burrows into red blood cells where it rapidly multiplies, leading to massive numbers of parasites in the blood stream that can cause severe disease and death.
PAC 10- A Focus on Pharmacy Practice Change
Pharmacy practice must shift its primary mission from supplying medicines to helping people make the best use of medicines in order to meet the needs of the public and ensure its survival as a health profession.
This is the view of leading US pharmacy expert Professor William A. Zellmer who will present on the topic of The Imperative for Change in Pharmacy Practice at PAC10 in October this year.
Drug Company Battles with NZ Pharmacy Guild
In a recent news item reported in the New Zealand Stuff.co.nz highlights a drug recall problem that had significant associated costs involving community pharmacy participation.
It is a problem that could occur within Australia and is currently before the courts in New Zealand.
The problem does reflect on the existing culture within the pharmacy profession where for too long pharmacists have virtually donated their services in instances where there should have been an expectation of payment for a professional service.
PGA (Australia) could monitor the legal process in New Zealand and adopt a protocol, if the result proves favourable to pharmacy.
The story (found online here) follows below:
Hmmm, I’m not convinced
A Woolworths “spokesman” (they are all still so very alpha at Woolies) has come out (excuse the expression) and declared the loss of interest in not only their “pharmacy” type trademarks but the industry of pharmacy itself.
980218 Pharmacist at Woolworths and 980219 PHARMACIST @ WOOLWORTHS, both previously registered trade marks, have been cancelled.
3Sunlight shines on clean energy future
Dr Zhiguo Yi and Professor Ray Withers have found a simple inorganic compound can efficiently oxidise water to release oxygen.
The production of clean energy and the treatment of waste water are set to become easier thanks to ANU researchers.
The scientists – Dr Zhiguo Yi and Professor Ray L Withers of the Research School of Chemistry at ANU, along with colleagues from Japan and China – have demonstrated that a simple inorganic compound, silver orthophosphate, can efficiently be used to oxidise water with only the power of light.
The oxidisation process can be used to convert solar energy to clean energy or break down contaminants in water.
The research is published in Nature Materials.
The Ascendancy of Warwick Plunkett
Prior to negotiations commencing for the Fifth Community Pharmacy Agreement (5CPA) the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) and the Pharmacy Guild of Australia agreed that the two organisations would present a unified front in their dealings with government.
That did not happen and many details of the 5CPA were completed in secrecy and without the appropriate input by the PSA.
Explanations were later offered by the PGA, but they rang a little hollow and were certainly outside of the spirit of a unified front.
Certainly, on the surface it appears that the PGA did not honour an agreement and was prepared to discount their formal agreement to the extent that it seemed not to exist at all.
The news item reporting the rift between the two organisations follows and Mark Coleman has been asked to provide a commentary at the foot of this news item.
Do the Maths - 1200 Graduates a Year and Increasing
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PDF version | Neil Johnston |
Neil Johnston is a pharmacist who trained as a management consultant. He was the first consultant to service the pharmacy profession and commenced practice as a full time consultant in 1972, specialising in community pharmacy management, pharmacy systems, preventive medicine and the marketing of professional services. He has owned, or part-owned a total of six pharmacies during his career, and for a decade spent time both as a clinical pharmacist and Chief Pharmacist in the public hospital system. He has been editor of i2P since 2000. | |
Pharmacists graduating within Australia must have a reasonable assurance that on graduation they will have some form of a job available for them, after due diligence and reasonable effort on their part to get themselves recruited.
The current maths do not stack up - 5000 pharmacies to accommodate 1200 graduates nationally, and increasing.
Who is responsible for the planning for graduates?
The PGA has publicly opted out of this responsibility, yet their members are the primary employers of new graduates. Their "spin doctoring" is reaching the same heights of incredulity that we are experiencing from our federal politicians.
Pharmacy schools must also take some responsibility apart from assisting in internship. Is there a central catalogue of pharmacy positions (other than as community pharmacists) and appropriate information for students to apply for these alternative positions?
Is there any sort of research being undertaken by PSA to identify positions that could be undertaken by pharmacists?
There must be a meeting of minds to ensure that highly trained graduates are not forced to leave the profession at the very commencement of their career.
Nor must the profession be devalued by driving down wages and conditions.
It's a bit like the style of management we see in large corporations when faced with having to manufacture a good set of accounts - they dismiss staff as a first recourse, rather than search for efficiencies and new markets to drive sales and income in the right direction.
It's a national disgrace that we are only now just talking about upskilling pharmacy technicians to allow existing pharmacy proprietors and managers the time to develop and deliver professional services.
It's about a decade too late in timing and there has been little or no coordination between pharmacy schools and the employers of pharmacists.
We now have excess graduates at a time when existing pharmacists are not accorded the time to value-add to dispensing - and there are insufficient value-add propositions to accomplish the transition easily.
The glut of pharmacists will also take its toll on those that have gained employment.
Unfortunately, there will be a shake out and many will be hurt by the experience. It is time the process was managed correctly - we cannot ignore technician up-skilling and we cannot ignore job generation for new pharmacists through creating fee paying professional services.
It is apparent that without recent PSA intervention in the 5CPA there would be little money available for professional services given the PGA penchant for continuing to divert funds into the eRx system.
And what a massive conflict of interest that is - the PGA buys electronic script capacity to deliver a profit capability to its half-owned company Nu-Systems, enabling it to develop at taxpayer and all PGA member expense.
And all this questionable activity at the expense of developing and funding professional services that will actually work and support pharmacy core business.
I have no faith in any professional service system that is centralised and delivered in a "top-down" fashion.
Those system types will simply not deliver value for money, and unless the PSA receives a more vocal support from individual pharmacists, the rorts will continue and money will be diverted away from genuine PSA developed programs.
The following recent press release from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Sydney touches on the various problems, but in no way confronts and assists all these new graduates to deal with the realities of pharmacy 2010.
"Over a fifth of the 1,200 pharmacy students that graduate in Australia each year do so at the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Sydney. This year, on Friday the 19th March 2010, 282 new Pharmacy graduates were conferred with their degrees in the Great Hall by Professor McCallum, Chair of the Academic Board.
Guest Speaker, Emeritus Professor Lloyd Sansom, told graduates that it was both an exciting and challenging time for them to be entering the workplace. "Health care delivery is under great pressure" he said "but there will always be a need for therapeutics experts in the health care system." He cited the cost of healthcare, a greater emphasis on preventative healthcare and the appropriate use of new technologies as major issues for the new generation of pharmacists.
"In my life time I have seen the double helix become the genome and Buck Rogers manifest himself as Neil Armstrong on the surface of the moon. The advances in science and technology that you will experience and that will impact on your professional careers simply cannot be comprehended at this time. This will be particularly true in the area of health and disease… new knowledge will not only bring potential benefits but also considerable challenges for our society and globally" he said.
Speaking of the centuries old ritual and ceremony they had just experienced, Professor Sansom reminded graduates of the importance of ritual in their profession. " This ceremony represents much more than the receipt of a parchment which is the physical evidence of the satisfactory completion of your course. It is the start of a professional career in which you will be required to accept the responsibilities which come with being involved in health care delivery, research and teaching."
The ceremony conferred 282 degrees on graduates from the Bachelor of Pharmacy (232), Master of Pharmacy (29), Master of Herbal Medicines (4), Graduate Certificate in Herbal Medicines (1), Master of Philosophy (6) and Doctor of Philosophy (10).
Dr Erica Sainsbury, lecturer in Pharmacy Practice at the Faculty, was also admitted to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Her thesis examined 'A Socio-cultural Approach to Conceptual Change Learning in First Year Pharmacy Students.'
"Graduation is an extremely important milestone for our students and I am greatly pleased to see a good number of PhD and Master of Philosophy candidates graduating today' said Professor Iqbal Ramzan, Dean of Pharmacy. "I would especially like to congratulate our colleague Erica on her achievement and am delighted to see our postgraduate students reap the benefits of their hard work."
Professor Lloyd Sansom, is a member of several advisory committees to the Federal Government including the National Medicines Policy Executive as well as several international advisory committees. He holds the title of Emeritus Professor at the University of South Australia. He has published widely in his research interests of pharmacokinetics, biopharmaceutics and the Quality Use of Medicines. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in June 2002 for contribution to pharmaceutical policy in Australia.
A number of industry representatives and representatives from professional bodies also attended the graduation ceremonies at the Dean's invitation, and many current and former academic staff took part in the academic profession and mingled with graduates following the official ceremony.
Pharmacy graduates from the University of Sydney have a wide variety of career choices open to them. Examples include retail pharmacy (community practice), hospital pharmacy, research positions within universities or research institutes, or positions in the pharmaceutical industry in drug production, marketing of drug development."
We all should acknowledge our collective shame for the state of the pharmacy environment we are asking our "finest and brightest" to embrace - if they can find a job.
So who is going to organise the summit meeting to solve the problem permanently?
Return to home
Research Reports
Dr Andrew Byrne & Associates: New York Pain Conference
Con Berbatis: May 2010 Pharmacy Research Events Practice Development
Dr John Dunlop (PGDipPharm, MPharm, DPharm(Auck), FACPP, FNZCP, FPSNZ, MCAPA): Are Pharmacists their own worst enemy? | open full screen
Information Technology
Dr David More: Weekly Australian Health IT Links - 31-05-2010Indigenous Health
Preventive Medicine
Aged Care
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