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The Royal Pharmaceutical Society is planning to set up a Listening Friends scheme whereby experienced pharmacists can support fellow pharmacists who are under strain. The Help for Pharmacists Under Stress (HelpUS) scheme is was thought up by Alan Nathan a Council member, who envisages a well trained group of voluntary pharmacists who can help colleagues cope with the practicalities of running a business. Nathan hopes that finance for the scheme will come from the Leverhulme Trade Charities Trust.

Independent pharmacists can compete with chain stores if they market effectively and work harder. Dispensing costs remain similar for all types of outpatient pharmacies, and manufacturer's rebates may equalize price differentials. An independent pharmacist should build ties to the community by speaking to groups on drug abuse, counseling patients and assisting doctors in determining patient compliance. Other steps to improve business include maintaining attractive premises., From my perspective as a participant in the distribution of pharmaceuticals and health-care products to the consumer, there are certain basics that will enable independent pharmacies to survive and prosper. [...]

John Coster, a pharmacist and staff member of the Senate Special Committee for Aging, helped develop the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1990. He advises the committee on pharmaceuticals and is a US health care policy expert. Coster envisions a larger role for pharmacists in the health care management of patients, including counseling and primary care., From a government's-eye view, the foundations of pharmacy s future are being laid, as they are in all segments of the health-care industry, with an eye to cost-containment. These concerns [...]

Pharmacists have the opportunity to expand their services to assessment, counseling and surveillance of consumers' medication needs, but they must take the initiative and establish themselves as leaders in these areas. Otherwise, other healthcare professionals may begin to offer these services. A number of signs, such as the excellent rating of pharmacists in a Gallup poll, suggest that customers would welcome an expanded role for pharmacists., Pharmacists who think that they're the fastest gun in town when it comes to pharmaceutical care had better hope they don't get caught in a knife fight with other health-care [...]

Pharmacists often have difficulty tracing the correct required information to fill a prescription from a vague telephone order. Sometimes a physician must be contacted to verify it, and the proper insurance form must be filed for payment. Busy with hundreds of prescriptions on a typical day, the pharmacist may feel like a character in the fairy tale, who must discover Rumpelstilskin's name to win the reward., The phone rings-again and for a long time. You disengage yourself from your task to answer. "This is the pharmacist. How may I help you?" A gender-neutral voice responds, "I [...]

Des Moines, IA, pharmacist Russ Johnson has had a long and prolific career. As proprietor of Hammer Pharmacy, Johnson had the shrewdness to tap an untried market in the 1950s, and turn what was essentially a local operation into large-scale one that serves 2,500 patients in 20 long-term care facilities. But Johnson did not stop there. In 1969 he entered the medical equipment market and started Hammer Medical Supply. A few years later he founded Medicap Pharmacy, which today has 78 franchises in 13 states., When Russ Johnson was a kid growing up in Iowa, he swept floors, washed windows, and stocked shelves in Hammer Pharmacy, trying to stay out of the way of the [...]

Rx Computers Take Center Stage MONTREAL - Chain drug pharmacists on the exhibit floor at the annual meeting of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP) were mostly interested in [...]

Young Rxer finds a way to open her own store WICKLIFFE, Ky. -- Saturday, Sept. 29, 1979 was a red-letter day for pharmacist Fran Grogan. In the morning she closed [...]

Perhaps you've heard Wall Street prophets sounding a death knell for health maintenance organizations. "The predominant frame of mind regarding HMOs and the managed care sector today is one of [...]

Jose Adan Trevino's destiny has been wrapped up in Texas all his life. Born in Brownsville, he was educated at the University of Texas College of Pharmacy and met his [...]

Tales of survival in southern New Jersey Diversification brings success Twelve years ago, with very little money, Calvin Knowlton bought a small "mom and pop" pharmacy in Lumberton from a [...]

Are wholesalers threatened by retail buying groups? Well, "threatened" may be a bit strong. Let's just say they're a little leery of them. Said Lawrence DuBow, after a year of [...]

Proceed confidently, but with caution. That's what drugstore owners/managers seem to be saying about 1986 in Drug Topics' exclusive business outlook. Some 70.2% of independents answering our survey expect 1986 [...]

Rather than to fight corporate efforts to control employee health costs, pharmacists should offer big business their ideas for saving money--and, in the process, reap some financial rewards for their [...]

Who is directing the practice of pharmacy today and shaping our future? Administrators. Administrators of all kinds. Third-party administrators dictate the low fees we have to live with, force generic [...]

Counseling adolescents With the increasing emphasis on health care and fitness, the pharmacist has an important role to play as a source of reliable, accurate information. One way in which [...]

Let go of complacency--computerize! Computers! Some people say "You can't live with them." We say, "We can't live without them." Perhaps this sounds a bit dramatic. With pharmacy computers being [...]

When pharmacists and third parties communicate, both sides can come up a winner. If you don't believe it, here's a recent example. R. H. Macy & Co.'s prescription drug benefit, [...]

The pharmacist/home healthcare specialist is a special person. Ever alert to extending the boundaries of pharmacy, he or she will make a significant investment in time, effort, and money to [...]

Independence is precious, and its price is rising. If you are a single-store owner, "you may have to reexamine your values to see how important that independence is," according to [...]

Pharmacists are recognizing that pharmacy's business side needs as much attention as its professional and clinical sides. In fact, if the business is not run efficiently, pharmacists won't be able [...]

The pharmacist's role in helping those who help themselves One of the challenges facing today's pharmacist is the development of a method or style of helping those who would like [...]