Friday 20 August 2010

In or out?

Members of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society are soon to be asked whether they want to allow non-pharmacists working in the science of pharmacy to be admitted to membership. I am currently undecided. As a non-practising pharmacist I will soon be an ex-pharmacist but eligible to remain a member. Why should this be? I have had no involvement in pharmacy practice for 24 of the 30 years I have been a pharmacist. So should I be in or out?

Whoever is allowed to join, what is most important is that the Society conducts itself in such a way that it speaks authoritatively. This might mean that some non-pharmacists should be admitted so long as it can be shown that they have not contributed to policies that are outwith their expertise. Faculties anyone?

To take part in our "Search to win" competition this week (for details see below) tell us the date on which PJ Online (not The Pharmaceutical Journal) reported that Bristol-Myers Squibb was to discontinue 5g tubes of Adcortyl in Orabase.

Michael Thompson
Editor, PJ Online

News this week

ABPI to ban promotional gifts
Further antibiotic switches could be prohibited
PDA criticises pharmacist fee proposed by GPhC
Pharmaceutical companies in the EU pledge aid for Pakistan floods

Clinical news

Further evidence emerges of paracetamol link to asthma
Isentress and Revatio recommended for use within NHS Wales
Lower dose HFA-beclometasone inhaler as good as higher dose fluticasone inhaler
No evidence to support the use of SSRIs to treat autism in children, says Cochrane review

Read - and comment on - all our news online

How to...

. . . enter the PJ Online "Search to win" competition - Answers to the competition should be sent to editor@pharmj.org.uk with "Search competition" in the subject line. Each week, one winner will receive a GBP25 voucher for Marks and Spencer or Amazon.co.uk.

The winner will be selected at random at 10am each Friday for the duration of the competition, and announced via the next newsletter.

Congratulations to Julia Blakeman, who correctly found that the date on which the PJ reported the qualification of the first pharmacist independent prescriber was 13 January 2007.

Article of the week

Should non-pharmacist scientists be allowed to join the professional body?

Participants in a recent symposium on science in pharmacy have called for the inclusion of non-pharmacist scientists and researchers working in the pharmaceutical sciences to be allowed to join the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

Learning and Development

Plugging a prescribing hole with formulation and compounding skills

What can you do when an effective medicine is discontinued and alternatives are just not the same?

Ray Bunn, a community and palliative care pharmacist, describes how his pharmacy went back to basics to maintain the supply of a preparation for mouth ulceration in palliative care patients and avoid his local hospice having to pay the high cost of the product as a commercially procured unlicensed special.

Ulcerative colitis: prescribing considerations and CPD

With over a dozen mesalazine products available for ulcerative colitis, choosing between them can be difficult. Anja St.Clair Jones discusses some of the factors that prescribers should consider.

Choice should not be based on cost alone, she says, but should take into account current management strategies and adherence.

If you have any questions after reading this article, you can Ask the expert until 6 September?

Are you ready...

... to treat summer feet?

Padding around on the hot sand, paddling in an azure pool and ditching your sensible shoes for a pair of flip-flops is the stuff of summer holiday dreams, but can leave behind some foot-related nightmares.

Be it verrucas, warts, blisters, athlete's foot or fungal nail infections, this month's "Are you ready...?" helps your pharmacy team gear up for the hobbling, post-holiday footfall.

And don't forget that you can always find resources to help you prepare to assist people with other enquiries by taking a look at our Are you ready... section for previous topics.

Comment and opinion

Chemist who gave us soap and marge
Decriminalising illegal drugs
Fast food pharmacy
Miracle tablet for fasting people?
Religion or science
The science of gambling
Will you let them in?

Do you agree with our writers? You can discuss these views on PJ Online.

Visit PJ Careers to search for your perfect job

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See all live vacancies from the past three weeks and apply online at www.pjcareers.com.

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PJ Careers will help you find your perfect job.

And finally...

... Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry plans to revise its code of practice will have a major impact. An independent pharmacy proprietor friend of mine told me this week that companies have already stopped giving out free pens. For the first time in his practising life, he told me, he had had to buy a box of pens to use in his pharmacy!