The AMA has warned that the new WorkChoices legislation allowing any registered health practitioner - including pharmacists, naturopaths and iridologists - to issue sick leave certificates could put lives at risk. "I might present to the pharmacist having needed to take the day off work because I have headache . I might get my certificate for two days but in fact I've got meningococcus and I am dead within that 48-hour period because I haven't seen a doctor," suggests AMA president Dr Rosanna Capolingua.

The Christmas lights are up and the 2007 business year is hurtling to an end. This will be our last post for this year and it's a good opportunity to stop and reflect on the past year and to look ahead at the emerging trends for 2008.

The introduction of evidence-based medicine (EBM) journal clubs into the RACGP continuing professional development program represents a new opportunity for relationship-building with GPs. By providing support for these journal clubs, pharmaceutical representatives can reinforce relationships with their key doctors.

In an earlier post I considered the likelihood that every doctor's patients were compliant to their treatment regimens (not very) and why the hierarchical connotation of the word "compliant" itself might be stopping patients achieving their best possible health outcomes. (And thwarting the best efforts of the pharmaceutical industry's marketing departments.)

Steven Lewis of ZEST Digital, sister company to ZEST Healthcare, has written an interesting post on the increasing level of online discussion amongst consumers about pharmaceutical products. Medicines Australia's Code of Conduct prohibits pharamceutical companies contributing to that discussion.

In essence, a brand manager's job is devoted to educating doctors about the merits of their product in the hope the doctor will decide to start routinely prescribing it. Vast amounts of money are spent trying to achieve this. So a brand manager could be forgiven for thinking the task is done once a doctor starts using the product. But as we shall see, this is just clearing the first hurdle...

Unless there are any surprise last-minute announcements when the RACGP officially unveils its vision for the 2008-2010 triennium it's probably fair to say there's nothing controversial about their revamped framework.

The new RACGP QA&CPD triennium has been designed to elevate the importance of active learning and quality improvement outcomes in the education program, and this will affect how activities are structured from next year.