..Information to Pharmacists
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    Your Monthly E-Magazine
    APRIL, 2003

    Published by Computachem Services

    P.O Box 297.
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    NSW Australia

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    ROLLO MANNING

    An Indigenous/Rural/Isolated/Remote Perspective

    Change Will Happen -
    It's the Speed That it Happens That May Count

    The time it takes for the face of pharmacy to change will be critical to its relevance in this millennium.
    Consumer behavior has changed and the retail industry must adapt to that change.
    The fact that pharmacy has structurally stayed the same over the past 75 years has created a "comfort zone" for the profession.
    It must now decide whether it needs to break out and let go of the shackles of the past.
    Ever wondered why some things in life always stay the same?

    Changes just don't seem to occur to any major extent.. Incremental changes do occur but only after a long period of gestation.
    There are people around that do not want to see change because they would have to move outside the "comfort zone" they find themselves in and would be uncomfortable in any other situation.
    There are other people who argue against change because it may not be conforming with existing practice standards - almost as if the present standards are sacrosanct and should not be changed.
    Or there are the ones who rest with the law as to why something should not happen.
    In neither of these last two considerations is there any thought to changing the standards or the law.
    They believe that progress or change should not happen if the present day laws don't encompass the proposed change.
    It is as if someone on a higher plane has decreed that there will be no change in standards or laws for a set period of time.
    In 1978 the Pharmacy Guild of Australia turned 50 years of age - originally it was formed in 1928 from separate organisations in the Australian States known as "master pharmacists" organisations.
    At the Guild "Jubilee" conference held in Canberra papers were given by a range of stakeholders (although they were called "interested persons" in those days!) who put forward their views on how pharmacy would look in the year 2000 and what changes should occur in a staged process to allow these goals to be achieved.
    The Guild National Council set up a small working party to plan the increments of change that would be needed to shape the community pharmacy in the year 2000 in the way the conference had heard it should.
    Items such as being paid for professional services; developing two distinct models of the supermarket or professional looking business; mandatory continuing education; and increased status for dispensary technicians were among the predictions.
    Now that the new millennium has ticked over, and the 75 years about to pass it must be worth revisiting the 50th anniversary conference and seeing whether a 75th anniversary conference would come with anything much different.
    The reason for the lack of change may be put down to some of the features outlined above that have bedeviled the pharmacy leaders over the years.
    A "comfort zone" certainly.
    The trouble is it does not confront the major change in the world which is with the emphasis on the consumer.
    In millennium 2000 this will become an all important factor and the retail "comfort zone" must surely disappear.
    The purpose for the Guild in 1928, now 75 years ago, was to become a unified national voice for arguing the case for "master pharmacists" against matters such as dealing with wage increases, negotiating with governments, and banding together for better marketing deals with manufacturers and distributors.
    The wholesale suppliers to the retail chemist shop were cooperatives owned by the "master pharmacists" and they ran the companies and decided on policy direction.
    A nice protected circle of friends all intent on making more money out of their investments in chemist shops.
    Not a bad intent at the time and probably for the 50 years to follow.
    The existence of the Pharmacy Guild was justified very soon after its formation with the possible intrusion into the Australian marketplace of Boots the Chemist from the United Kingdom.
    The powerful lobby of chemists was successful in having the laws of the land changed to preclude any ownership of pharmacies except a registered pharmacist.
    In 2003 consumers want a choice.
    They will vote with their feet when it comes to where they spend their dollar.
    The standards of the past and the laws of the 1930s may not be relevant to this millennium, and these may have to change if the profession of pharmacy is to remain a force in the health care industry.
    It is to be hoped that the FIP World Congress to be held in Sydney in September 2003 will recognize the 75 years the Pharmacy Guild has been in operation and help it to determine the extent to which the pharmacy laws and standards of the 20th century suit millennium 2000.

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