EDITORIAL

Yes, we are running a little late this month, partly because of the Pan Pharmaceuticals disaster, partly because I was able to grab a quick vacation, and only returned just before the scheduled publishing date.

It is hoped that the pharmaceutical industry will fully recover from what appears to be a massive loss of confidence by consumers. Some very careful thought will have to go into what range of products you will need to keep in the future, and for sure, who manufactures them.

There needs also to be an investigation as to the method of recall.
I am advised that the Department of Defence had a very smooth and quick recall throughout its entire facilities, because it had embraced EAN barcodes, which have recall facilities built into the code.
People involved in the supply chain process in the Pharmaceutical Industry have generally been prevaricating as to when they would embrace this type of technology.
Perhaps this may be the one positive to come out of the Pan debacle.

When we went to press last month, the hit counter for March had not stopped. It finished at 36512.
A look at the total for April indicates that we recorded 47235 hits, which is a significant increase.
Thank you to all those subscribers who appear to be utilising i2P more and more as a general reference.

This month we again have a good line up of writers embracing a very diverse range of topics, which includes how our PBS system is being manipulated through global pressures, Rollo Manning's progress in the Tiwi Islands, various commentaries on the Pan Pharmaceuticals problem, counter prescribing and other prescribing issues, compounding, a proposal for the Pharmacy Guild of Australia to work to a code of good practice (which should embrace an external examiner to mark the scoresheet), cognitive opportunities and QUM issues, an interesting discourse by Con Berbatis on his experiences with some of pharmacy's world leaders, and finally a student perspective on the embargo on medication reviews (why is this necessary?).

I think a very good read and one that should set another "hit" record.

Neil Johnston, May 2003