Pharmacy U news

Creativity should be at the core of all businesses. Without any sort of creativity, success and longevity are difficult to attain. It is the fuel behind the emergence of any new ideas.

If you are anything like me, you are now getting to the point where you have a list of things that you'd like to change. And given that we are coming up on the New Year, you may have quite a list of things that you would put in the category of “New Year’s Resolutions.”

You’re at the pharmacy counter where you’ve just finished counselling Joan, a 65-year-old woman on her new medication for insomnia. You’ve checked all the boxes for a thorough patient encounter. You’ve updated her allergy status, checked pharmanet for her other medications, assessed drug interactions, and counselled her appropriately. But have you asked about non-prescription medications? In particular, have you asked about supplementation?

The playground of life can be a harsh teacher. The kids on the playground can be so blunt. As a result, we develop little pieces of supposed wisdom to help us through these turbulent times. Phrases like “sticks and stones may break my bones” or “I’m rubber and you’re glue.”

Vaccinating children is nothing new to pharmacies. Pharmacies have experience with flu shots, but the number of individuals looking for vaccinations against COVID-19 sees new patients, fears, and hesitancies.

When I left pharmacy school over 20 years ago, I thought I had attained all the knowledge I needed in order to care for patients. The one thing that all those years of studying didn’t teach me was that my patients were going to become my greatest teachers.

Hormone therapy has been used to relieve symptoms of menopause for the past 70 years. We know it can dramatically improve quality of life in women suffering from symptoms, such as hot flashes and night sweats.

Perhaps you've heard the expression before that experience is the best teacher? I know I have, and I would even suggest that I subscribe to it.