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12 NEWS IN FOCUS FROM PAGE 11 A person tweeted the query as to why it is so difficult to get face masks when during a war a country can mobilise quite quickly to produce sophisticated equipment. Mr Durra attributes it to a “sheer volume game” with so many people wanting them and using them up so quickly. “Essentially, all adults must wear masks, and if these are not reusable, the demand will be enormous!” Based on this he says he is not surprised that Chemist Warehouse Brunswick had such a long queue. “Chemist Warehouse, through its extensive advertising and marketing, may be perceived to have stock of masks and I think they import face masks themselves, which gives them access to these in-demand products, so the queue is not surprising.” He emphasises that there was strong demand for masks in the first wave, which he believes will be exceeded in the second wave due to the “wearing of masks becoming mandatory”. Drug shortages Mr Durra says the pharmacy experienced shortages of drugs such as hydroxychloroquine, pain killers, hypertension drugs and mental health drugs among others during the first wave because of people stockpiling. However, he says the problem has lessened with drugs now being limited to a month’s supply, although the shortages through wholesalers are still extensive. He highlights the pharmacy’s services, technology and automation, which have enabled the pharmacy to keep abreast of its patient and customer requirements. The pharmacy has been established for about 16 years with a staff complement of 25 people, including part-timers and casuals. It offers extended hours and a claimed high level of service, in and out of the pandemic, which includes AIA Vitality health checks, pharmacotherapy, sleep apnoea services, vaccinations, cholesterol testing, HbA1c testing, blood pressure monitoring, blood glucose testing, home medicine reviews and MedsChecks, and coeliac screening to customers from all demographics. Customers have continued to buy nutritional supplements and vitamins from the pharmacy during the pandemic, which they see as a valuable addition to their health and wellbeing, Mr Durra says. Technology helps under pressure The pharmacy “prides” itself on proactively making use of technology to help with the many functions of day-to- day work in-store such as an automatic pump for dosing methadone patients among others, Mr Durra says. Pharmacists and technicians in the pharmacy get relief from the pharmacy’s MACH 4 Omnicell robotic dispensing machine that picks up medication for pharmacists and technicians and delivers it to wherever they are working, he says. The pharmacy uses the robot to store its medication packs and bottles. After an item is dispensed it is automatically located and picked off the shelf by the robot and delivered to the pharmacist, resulting in them not having to tick the item off. Hours of work are also saved every day in that the robot puts stock away, and during scanning automatically records the expiry dates of products. This enables the pharmacist or technician to put their focus where it is required, such as on the patient or script, and avoid errors, while at the same time the machine automatically picks up data in the background and sends it through to the dispensing point. The pharmacist also avoids picking up an incorrect product or committing a dispensing error in that the machine records the medicine’s barcode. Another technology is JVM sachet- packing machines that produce most of the pharmacy’s dose administration aids for its residential care and community patients. “There’s the in-line sachet checker, which can be conveniently retrofitted onto any current JVM sachet- packing machine as its dimensions do not exceed a shoe box by much,” Mr Durra said. The in-line sachet checker takes photographs of all sachets manufactured and helps visually check them for accuracy as the sachets are produced from the packing machine. “In that the sachets are automatically checked as they are manufactured, the process of running the sachets through a checker is no longer required,” Mr Durra said. As to the JVM automated blister- packing machine, it is widely used in the pharmacy and recognised in the community as the four by seven blister card format. This affordable and automated way of manufacturing cards has increased the pharmacy’s service to the community in that the pharmacy no longer puts blister packs together manually as it did in the past, which was costly and burdensome, but instead uses its equipment for sachet dose administration wherever possible. RETAIL PHARMACY • AUG 2020