Are we losing our relevance?
June 21, 2010
Further to the academic success in
just about removing pharmacists from
most discussions about upper
respiratory tract infections in children,
are we going to take this lying down?
Where are the pharmacists who
have built their business on the care
and attention given to young mums
and their offspring? They’re out
there, but the younger set is becoming
paralyzed by the demands put onto
them by academia.
If PSA are charged with representing
our professional interests, is this an
admission that our educational
institutions have failed in their attempts
to educate us in paediatric health?
Shouldn’t they be examining the
professional options we now have
available, when a child presents with a
wheeze? See the GP?
Sure, and wait a week for an
appointment with your preferred one!
I challenge my colleagues to look
outside the square! Assert your
professional competence, and be
informed about the natural medicine
options. After all, Cochrane (that
barrier behind which all academics
stand) advises that dextromethorphan
is no more effective than honey.
Additionally, how many academics
who hold Cochrane’s coat tails, actually
speak to patients at the coalface?
Homeopathic medicines have taken a
beating recently (it must be a slow
news time) but I commend Brauer
Cough Relief for kids. From a herbal
perspective, consider BioRevive’s
Prospan, which is accompanied by a
raft of European evidence for those
who need some sort of reassurance.
Learn about these options, become
confident and competent in their use,
add liquid echinacea purpurea into
the equation, chest rub on the soles of
feet, tender loving care and
reassurance to the concerned parent
(or is that illegal as well?), and you
have a customer for life.
That’s what Pharmacists have always
done, and that’s what we should
continue to do, in spite of the dogooders
who want to relegate us to a
role as some sort of clinical outcast
who can’t offer meaningful support.
This
week’s contributor is Gerald Quigley.
Gerald Quigley is a
practicing Community
Pharmacist as well as
an Accredited
Herbalist.
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