Thus far … In the first article, we identified the reasons why managers usually fail to improve performance and developed a model that highlighted the four key variables that influence performance, namely opportunity, expectations, ability and willingness. In this article we look at a process for improving performance, specifically how to diagnose problems and some options for improvement. This article is concentrated. Read it more than once to derive maximum benefit. But first a few points to bear in mind.

Travellers are at risk of a number of gastrointestinal disorders including travellers’ diarrhoea (TD), food poisoning, protozoal, viral, bacterial, and helminthic infections. Food and water hygiene remains the cornerstone of prevention, and travellers should be instructed in water purification. Empiric self treatment for TD with oral rehydration mixtures and antimotility agents may be recommended; fluoroquinolones or azithromycin self treatment may be added for more severe diarrhoea.

The legal implications of the correct capture of prescription data into pharmacy computer systems

Pharmacists must be aware that there is an important legal obligation that prescription data capture should be meticulously correct. This applies especially to the correct capture of the prescriber. Greater use is being made of your information in providing statistics to medical aids and the manufacturing industry.

Although people are judged by what they look like, what they say and how they respond to others, the ultimate criterion is the extent to which they are able to deliver – their performance. In this two part series of articles, we examine the variables that influence performance and the steps that can be taken to improve performance.

Most of us have, at some point in our lives, experienced a headache. Unfortunately, some people experience more headaches than others. These headaches may also be more severe and intolerable, which, in most cases, leads the headache sufferer to the pharmacy. It is this first visit which may be the start of a journey to a headache nightmare. The focus in this article will be on the more common headache types that the pharmacist is likely to encounter, and what role the pharmacist can play to ensure that the headache sufferer is offered the best advice for the management of their headache type(s).

Recently, the Pretoria Academic Hospital’s Orthopaedic Department proposed placing patients on long term proton pump inhibitors as a prophylactic measure against development of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAID) associated with duodenal and gastric ulcers. These recommendations were based on well established criteria. In addition, one aid to the physician in determining the possibility of NSAID-induced gastro- intestinal damage in a particular patient is a set of established risk factors.

When Riaan Roscher left South Africa for America, he wrote me a letter that left me with a lump in my throat. He thanked me for what I’d done to champion the Afrikaans cause (no, he wasn’t being sarcastic – I actually encouraged the use of Afrikaans in the journal and facilitated the dissemination of translated newsletters) and asked me to switch the Afrikaans lights off when all the Afrikaans speakers had left the country. I feel the same this week. Am I going to be left to switch off the pharmacy lights when all the pharmacists have left the country?

South Africa is a country with unique and diverse needs and challenges specific to the vision of creating a brighter future for us all. In the 1990s, South Africa was welcomed back into the international arena to trade, compete and interact. It has become a leader to the African continent in terms of economic viability and creating an infrastructure having exponential growth in capacity development.

With the increase in the number of contact lens wearers, it has become necessary to make both users and prescriber’s of medicine aware of possible interactions that might exist between oral and/or topical medications and contact lenses. It is also true that certain eye conditions e.g. dry eyes, irritated eyes and chronic eye infections in contact lens wearers, may be caused secondary to interactions between contact lenses and drugs.

Chelation therapy is a method for re moving toxins, minerals and metabolic wastes from the bloodstream and vessel walls using intravenous EDTA (ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid) infusions.^1,2 Another name for chelation therapy is EDTA therapy. Chelation therapy claims to reduce the internal inflammation caused by free radicals that cause degenerative disease such as arthritis, in addition to removing lead and other heavy metal toxins.²

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common conditions encountered in family practice, accounting for about 12% of general practice visits. The incidence of IBS in western communities varies from 10-15%, with a female to male ratio of 2:1