Tag: pharmacy practice

Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

AI for prescription drug information: Not yet useful for health care – but it’s coming

ChatGPT may not replace a health care professional's assessment yet, but its capabilities are growing.

/ March 28, 2024

Pharmacies continue to sell sugar pills as flu remedy

Oscillococcinum is a homeopathic remedy that is made by taking the heart and liver of a duck and diluting it to nothing. It's a placebo, but sold widely by pharmacies as a "treatment" for colds and influenza.

/ January 24, 2019

Australian review: Get homeopathy out of pharmacies

An independent review of Australian pharmacy practice has recommended that homeopathic products be kept out of pharmacies.

/ July 13, 2017

What are health professionals telling consumers about dietary supplements?

The popularity of dietary supplements continues to grow. A few weeks ago I described how dietary supplements have become a $34 billion industry, despite the fact that there’s very little evidence to support their use. While there are absolutely some medical circumstances where specific supplements may be warranted, the vast majority of supplements are taken for general purposes, such as “wellness” or...

/ November 17, 2016

Do pill organizers help or hurt?

In order for medication to work, getting a prescription filled isn’t enough. You have to actually take the medication. And that’s where you (the patient) come in. Estimates vary based on the population and the medication, but a reasonable assumption is that 50% of people given a prescription don’t take their medication as prescribed. In pharmacy terminology we usually call this medication...

/ August 25, 2016

Pharmacy and homeopathy: Will the profession change, or will change be forced upon it?

Retail pharmacy is giving itself a credibility problem. While pharmacists are highly trusted health professionals, there are increasing questions about the products sold in pharmacies. Many of the non-prescription products that you can find aren’t backed by good evidence. And the number of dubious products seems to be growing. Homeopathy is an extreme example. Homeopathic “remedies” look like conventional medicine, but unlike...

/ August 11, 2016

Fooling Myself

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool. –Richard Feynman I like to think of myself as a rational person, but I’ve been fooled by my own experience again and again. I’ve made bad decisions and wasted time and money believing what I was seeing, instead of being objective and looking...

/ June 2, 2016

Is it ethical to sell complementary and alternative medicine?

Complementary and alternative medicine may be legal to sell - but is it ethical to sell?

/ February 11, 2016

It’s time for pharmacies to stop selling sugar pills

Why are pharmacies selling sugar pills to consumers that are packaged like medicine? And what will it take for pharmacies to stop?

/ July 16, 2015

Beware the Integrative Pharmacy

Imagine a retail pharmacy where some of the medicines on the shelves have been replaced with similar-looking packages that contain no active ingredients at all. There is no easy way to distinguish between the real and the fake. Another section of the store offers a number of remedies with fantastic claims, such as “boosting” the immune system, “detoxifying” the body, or “cleansing”...

/ May 22, 2014