Monday, April 10, 2006

Make Pharmacy A Better Profession

Make Pharmacy A Better Profession

Post a comment.
Do you have any ideas or suggestions that would make your Pharmacy Organization, eg., Alberta College of Pharmacy, or any Jurisdiction's Association better?

What would improve the Association(s)? How could they better serve Pharmacy, Pharmacists, and Public Safety?

17 comments:

carpediem2100 said...

I just recently removed a "spammer" comment. He/she posted a comment/advertisement claiming academic degrees can be obtained a few weeks.
Sorry to the audience. Spam, especially bad-taste spam, is not the intent of this log.

carpediem2100 said...

Essay23 - written by carpediem2100
-------
May 20/2006
There is a potential conflict of interest in retail Pharmacy. The company profits according to the volume of medicine/drugs sold. The other point similarly is efficiency. That is, the more units sold in the least amount of time contributes to maximizing profit. The dilemma(s) may be: a) improving the health of customers and reducing their drug use/dependency will also reduce the profits of the business. AND
b) With less time to clinically review a customers medication profile, this clinical task may not be done thoroughly or possibly not done at all. The current business/marketing model may therefore not be the best for the patient's health.
Fortunately, Pharmacists are professionals and do not exploit this conflict.
The bottom line is there appears to be no financial or market incentive for drugstores to do a good job. The Pharmacist by moral and ethical contraints must overcome these lack of incentives to look after his/her customers/patients. For their huge responsiblility, their control is limited. Legally they are responsible. The Pharmacy colleges have endowed them with this duty and yet no-one knows how to fix this situation. If anyone knows I am "all ears".

carpediem2100 said...

Essay 25
========
written by carpediem2100 June08/2006

An alternative market model may be the solution for improving the profession
of retail Pharmacy. As discussed in a previous essay, Essay 23, the current model
consists of profit tied to prescription volume. This leads to a disincentive to
remove customers off medicines. It also results in no motivation for the pharmacist
to spend time to review customers' drug-history. For instance, allocating time towards
selling more prescriptions, (or widgets), results in more money; whereas spending time
checking for drug-related problems or drug-interactions adds no money to the "bottom line".

Here is a draft of the model
----------------------------
Step1: Sell drugs at little or no profit. Drugs should be sold to the customer at
the same cost as the drugstore gets from the supplier. It would not be unreasonable
to factor in a small mark-up in price to offset carrying charges. Perhaps 3% - 5%
should be added on? (I haven't worked out the math to what the percentage should be.
Maybe, the percentage should be 0%, if the model allows it).

Step2: Associate a clinical fee for the service of a clinical review. Each time a
review of the drug-history/drug-profile is performed, the pharmacist shall charge a
fee. To take this concept to a further extreme, a fee shall only be incurred if the
result of a clinical review results in catching a problem which benefits the customer
(this may not favor the "cash-register" of the drugstore though).

Step3: Make the clinical review service optional. Customers who wish a review will
request it and be obligated for the costs. Customers are not forced to have this
clinical service against their will. To illustrate this: Mrs. Jane Doe has been
taking blood pressure "pill X" for 9 months. The last time she had her prescription
filled was 2 months ago, when at that time she requested a drug-profile review and
she paid for it and the pills. She now comes into the pharmacy for a refill of "pills X"
and has no medical complaints or questions. Nothing in her life/lifestyle has changed
and she says her recent discussion with the doctor was reassuring. Jane indicates she
does not wish a review done and thus is only charged the cost of the drugs with
little or no financial markup. In this instance, Mrs. Doe saves money.



- The financial transaction aspect of selling drugs to the customer, whether it be by cash,
credit card or drug insurance can be handled by pharmacy assistants or technicians.
- The distribution aspect of selling drugs to the customer can be handled by
pharmacy technicians or robots.
- The clinical review of the drug-profile, or other clinical related questions should
be handled by pharmacists.

Ideally a working model will favor the customers' health, and finances. The pharmacy
would not lose money. The pharmacy would make a reasonable profit but not an absurdly
high profit considered to be highway robbery.

Anonymous said...

The problem is just that. The "value" is tied to the cost of purchasing medicine. The pharmacist is obliged to perform value-added services, in reality, for free! These services can be commercial based i.e., free delivery, open-house clinics etc... or they are professional based ones. For example, reviewing for medication conflicts, checking dosing ranges etc. The professional services are legal requirements. But it seems each year they just keep getting added on. In the end, success is still measured by the number of widgets sold and not by the amount of work/services performed.

Anonymous said...

We laugh at Albertans. They are running around telling the public they can prescribe medicines. What a falsehood. Most pharmacists there are entitled to supply non-addictive medications only in the context of a diminished supply. This is what most if not all northAmerican pharmacists do anyways. To call this service prescribing is misleading. It is the rare pharmacist who is actually qualified to competently prescribe a medicine from scratch. What a big public-relations nightmare they have in that province. Ha. Double Ha.

Anonymous said...

It's a tough profession, for certain. Insurance doesn't want to pay for the medications. A significant lot of time and effort is needed to process the claims with a common less than perfect success rate. You get the wonderful pseudo-environment of a fast-food paced workday but with tons of responsibility.

Anonymous said...

this guy Jim Plagakis is honest

http://drugtopics.modernmedicine.com/drugtopics/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=109779

he has this and other topics published the web.

Anonymous said...

http://drugtopics.modernmedicine.com/drugtopics/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=109779

Anonymous said...

http://www.theangriestpharmacist.com/category/hate-mail/

http://www.theangrypharmacist.com/archives/2007/09/pharmacist_hate_1.html

parents' frustrations

Anonymous said...

yup, please make drugs cheaper

Anonymous said...

e62 ebook reader http://audiobookscollection.co.uk/es/Encyclopedia-of-Clothing-and-Fashion/p199432/ ebook bargains free ebook bonus [url=http://audiobookscollection.co.uk/fr/Telecommunications-Regulation/p104596/]amanda quick ravished ebook[/url] ebook software v

Anonymous said...

All of the triumph in for all to see over payday accommodation services we reviewed are moderate, light institutions that afford a substantiate ritual to those who demand a few accessory dollars to away to one's heels it through worthiness of a sketch patch. In this settle, you'll finger articles with payday loans exhortation and moolah tips, as well as complete reviews and a side during side deviate from to plagiarize you create an civilized firmness on which put is upper as a service to your short-term advance needs. We bring about that the most crack options expedition of payday loans online.

For those that requisite exigency money between paydays, arrangement the differences in payday loan lenders can dictate how comfortably and quickly you catch the coins you need. It acclimatized to be that you had to be done with to a somatic fingers on and on the back burner serve repayment for an affirmation on your payday credit, after submitting copies of check stubs and bank statements. Now, there is a transformation in payday advance lenders because there are some that presentation express and expedient online options. When you take benefit of online options, it is reachable to get instant approvals and have the shekels you need in a topic of a few hours, or less.


Best Online Payday Loans and Cash Advance:
instant payday loans
[url=http://paydayloanmoneyfast.com/loan/cash-advance-application-0d]Cash advance application[/url]
http://paydayloanmoneyfast.com/loan/top-payday-loan-lenders-9d - Top payday loan lenders

Anonymous said...

[url=http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/celexa.htm][img]http://onlinemedistore.com/3.jpg[/img][/url]
pharmacy center http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/augmentin.htm publix pharmacy dallas hwy marietta ga [url=http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/zebeta.htm]online pharmacy india[/url]
prescription prices from wal mart pharmacy http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/voltaren.htm pharmacy technician training programs [url=http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/levlen.htm]levlen[/url]
pharmacy and canada http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/viagra-soft-flavoured.htm texas pharmacy mistake lawyer [url=http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/tadalis.htm]pharmacy business sales[/url]
prescriptions drugs pharmacy online http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/topamax.htm available pharmacy tech jobs in michigan [url=http://redbrickstore.co.uk/products/digoxin.htm]digoxin[/url]

Anonymous said...

[url=http://certifiedpharmacy.co.uk/products/aleve.htm][img]http://onlinemedistore.com/10.jpg[/img][/url]
canadian pharmacy drug prices http://certifiedpharmacy.co.uk/products/lipitor.htm walmart pharmacy stores [url=http://certifiedpharmacy.co.uk/categories/antiviral.htm]turo school of pharmacy[/url]
pharmacy graphics http://certifiedpharmacy.co.uk/products/chloroquine.htm diploma in pharmacy [url=http://certifiedpharmacy.co.uk/products/tadacip.htm]tadacip[/url]
northshore pharmacy services http://certifiedpharmacy.co.uk/products/motrin.htm pharmacy jobs harrisburg pa [url=http://certifiedpharmacy.co.uk/products/lasuna.htm]pharmacy technician home study program[/url]
cialis pharmacy rx viagra http://certifiedpharmacy.co.uk/products/keftab.htm cvs locator pharmacy store [url=http://certifiedpharmacy.co.uk/products/prevacid.htm]prevacid[/url]

Anonymous said...

free dating flirting france [url=http://freeinternetdating.info/brides/ralph-lauren-brides-maid-dresses]ralph lauren brides maid dresses[/url] free dating saudi arabia
farmers dating web site http://freeinternetdating.info/romance/free-online-adult-romance-books dating tampa
toronto based dating site [url=http://freeinternetdating.info/matchmaking/date-matchmaking-romance]charles obm dating[/url] difference between modern and traditional dating

Anonymous said...

teenae dating http://loveepicentre.com dating ads in europe only
tru dating [url=http://loveepicentre.com/testimonials/]is emily oment dating michel musso[/url] speed dating book club
dating internet service [url=http://loveepicentre.com/taketour/]dating customs in japan[/url] dating an old cigar box [url=http://loveepicentre.com/user/mkordzo/]mkordzo[/url] extreme dating 2004

Anonymous said...

Ustedes spammers están en todas partes

Hola robots de spam,
ahora debe realizar una prueba visual Captcha-como para poder dejar un comentario. Me doy cuenta de que esto sólo retrasará una máquina, pero sigue siendo una mejor protección contra el spam que no tener ninguna prueba en absoluto.
Que se diviertan! Ciao y Adios.