I agree with almost everything William says. Only a couple of points.
1. Change... we have been changing for quite some time. When I
started we were not even allowed to label the bottle with the drug
names. If asked a question, we were to refer the patient to their
physician. Talk about change. I am not that old.
2. brink of extinction.... Not unless we all turn in our licenses
today and go to work for the highway department. In our large (750+
bed) tertiary care hospital, we are trying to hire as many pharmacist
as possible. We have six FTEs for staff and 3 FTEs for clinical
right now. They are funded and waiting. I started in peds when they
didn't even know that they needed a pharmacist. Now, we have just
hired our second full time Peds clinician. Not too shabby.
3... Gov. dislike... not true. If it weren't for the government
stepping in and saying drugs need to be safe and effective, we would
have no practice of pharmacy. Like every other entity, they have a
tendency to be over zealous on occasion. But this happens more often
as a knee jerk reaction to something we did that was absolutely
stupid, greedy, or short sighted.
Good point about self regulation. Like to old saw about the fox
guarding the hen-house.
good luck...cheers........... robert
Robert Aucoin, RPh 1-888-765-7428 (Toll free)
Senior Clinical Pharmacist/Operations fax: 225-765-8410
The Children's Center at Office: 225-765-7652
Our Lady of the Lake RMC pager: 225-237-6564 (digital)
Baton Rouge, LA 70808 e-mail: RAucoin@ololrmc.com
web site: www.mraucoin.com (new,
under constru)
"Unparalleled Excellence in Pediatric Health Care"
"We Care for All God's Children"
-----Original Message-----
From: sajnacki@earthlink.net [SMTP:sajnacki@earthlink.net]
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2000 4:48 PM
To: PharmCare
Subject: RE: Regulation of online Pharmacies
Hello,
I am new to the group. My name is William Sajnacki and I am a graduate
Doctor of Pharmacy student. I feel that there are several problems with who
should regulate this.
First, self regulation will not work. If it did it would be working already
and it is not. Without a strict set of rules people will take advantage of
a situation, as they are now. Even the most respected professions bend the
rules for the almighty dollar.
As far a state regulation. It is important to remember that the internet
does not hold a "home base". It is not located in any one state. Therefore
state regulation is impossible unless every state agrees to the same set of
laws. If just one state caves in and allows weaker restrictions, the
pharmacies will move there and continue to find ways around the other state
laws, as they do now.
Also, the idea that one could police internet commerce on a state by state
basis is silly. It would require each state to know the regulations of
every other state then look directly at the practice of each pharmacy
individually.
I do not harbor the same resentment to the government as many people here
do. I don't think the government having the control would sour pharmacy in
general, just perhaps slow the incredibly fast growth of internet pharmacy.
A growth I feel is way to fast, compromising the safety of the patient. At
this rate we will never be able to regulate faster than technology.
I believe we are ina time where pharmacy is changing. It hangs on the edge
of extinction, forcefully being replaced by inferior technology. We were
headed to a great place, clinical pharmacy. With the proliferation of new
drugs and herbs the pharmacist could have been an intricate part of the
health care network. Allowing doctors more freedom to focus on diagnosis
and inital treatment. This new "technology" simple robs us of our proper
place in healthcare by simplifying our role to a computer program.
Your feedback is welcome, (its not over yet)
William
P.S Great conversation so far.
At 05:04 AM 2/15/00 +0000, you wrote:
>How can you expect to have good self-regulation when Registration Boards and
>Professional Societies are separated? The UK Royal Pharmaceutical Society
>and the Pharmaceutical Society of Western Australian (whose Council is a
>registering body) seem to be among the few truly 'professional' bodies
>around. How many other places, even within our disciplines, are as truly
>"self governing" as professions ought to be? How far has our
>professionalism been retarded and denigrated by our lack of demonstrated
>capability to take care of our own affairs in a thorough and public
>acceptable manner! If we were a proper and truly independent profession, and
>kept that publicly accountable (ie; we properly applied the idea of
>"corporate governance" ) we could be empowered to regulate all improper
>practice that threatens public safety. Well, one can hope!
>
>We need more lay reps on our registration and disciplinary
>Councils/Committees, and a lot more transparency in our various dealings to
>convince public or Government to even let us retain what professionalism we
>do have, let get back to what ought to have been there in the first place.
>Let's face it, most places got it wrong to start with, and self interest
>perpetuates those errors in its own cause. But what has this to do with
>Pharmaceutical Care - the forum in which these communications are appearing?
>This I suppose: that if you wish to have top standards you must have top
>backing by those responsible for governance and public accountability. If
>our professional activity were really valued, we'd have no problems getting
>support for the right kinds of professional control for the achievement of
>the highest public good.
>
>Ray Skinner
>Perth WA
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: James Earl Casey
>[<mailto:jcasey@lynnspharmacy.com>mailto:jcasey@lynnspharmacy.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, 15 February 2000 0:40
> To: PharmCare
> Subject: Re: Regulation of online Pharmacies
>
> Dear Joe,
> We must unite under a cause to help each other to battle the
>war of
> control...are
> we going to control us or is someone else will have
> to do the job!
> jcasey@lynnspharmacy.com
>
> JoeFLRPh@aol.com wrote:
>
> > Regulation of pharmacy pracice is controlled by
>individual states and must be
> > addressed by the respective boards of pharmacy.
> > Do you really want the Feds controlling your practice?
>Once they take hold
> > in one area, rest assured, they will insidiously attempt
>to control even more
> > areas they feel are "in the best interest" of the public
>to control.
> > Wouldn'y you feel insulted if the government came in and
>regulated what you
> > are fully capable of regulating on your own?
> > Just a thought.
> >
> > Joe Haynes, C.R.Ph.
> > joeflrph@aol.com
>
>
>
____
/ !! \
| !! | William Sajnacki
| /!!\ | sajnacki@earthlink.net
|/ !! \|
\_!!_/
|