Publication Date 01/04/2011 Volume. 3 No. 3

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Editorial

Welcome to the April home page edition of i2P. A lot certainly happens over a month in pharmacy and health-related activities.
When we first started publishing our primary concern was to cover pharmacy issues within Australia, delivered monthly. Eleven years on we now cover global pharmacy and associated health issues on a daily basis, but delivered weekly.
New areas embracing climate change, food growing and processing and information technology are all increasing areas of health concern. Their impacts translate into systems that affect health negatively or positively and for all such contemporary issues, pharmacists need to have a working knowledge and understanding that translates into an effective pharmacy service
This month we are introducing a new column called Pipeline, and you will find it near the top of the centre column of the i2P home page.

Columns

Rollo Manning: Pharma-Goss | open full screen

John Dunlop : Inside NZ | open full screen

Loretta Marron BSc: Health Watch | open full screen

Barry Urquhart: Marketing Focus | open full screen

Harvey Mackay: Strategic Thinking | open full screen

Mark Neuenschwander: I`ve been thinking about... | open full screen

Pharma News

Peter Jackson: Through the Pfizer Looking-Glass | open full screen

Health Politics

Staff Writer: Health reform in jeopardy | open full screen

Climate Change

Staff Writer: Zero Carbon Australia plan, revisited | open full screen

Staff Writer: We need concrete answers to climate change effects | open full screen

Staff Writer: Wind and waves growing across globe | open full screen

Staff Writer: Home Farmer Social Network | open full screen

EPublications

Click here for a list of epublications

Yamaha VSP-1 ambient noise generator shields your voice during counselling sessions

Staff Writer

articles by this author...

Editing and Researching news and stories about global and local Pharmacy Issues

One of the reasons that pharmacies have not adapted to the provision for privacy locations (counselling rooms etc.) is because of the cost to provide, and the space that is taken up.
It's like the "chicken and the egg" - the space may not generate a return because it has to low a usage, but if the is provided in a convenient and attractive location, usage would increase.
So what are the cheaper alternatives?

open this article full screen

In i2P March 2011 edition a Scandinavian solution was illustrated in the form of a "hood light" that generated a "zone of silence" underneath it. This was a realively cheap and efficacious way of creating voice privacy.
In this article we examine some examples of "white noise", which is a special form of sound that neutralises other sounds (such as voices).
Young parents have found that when they bring home a new baby and have it sleep in an air-conditioned room, peace and tranquility prevails.
This is not so much from the cool surroundings, but from the "white noise" generated from the hum of the air-conditioner motor.
When the air-conditioner is shut off in cooler weather, the baby complains and everybody becomes sleep-deprived.
This is because the air-conditioner generated "white noise".
Entrepreneurial developers have taken this idea and installed various "white noises" on mobile phones that are placed near the baby's cot and played all night.
The idea has caught on globally but microwave exposure may create another long-term health risk yet to be evaluated.
In this article we look at white noise installed in a pharmacy.

It isn't hard to picture the scenarios in a busy pharmacy where you need to discuss some private (and possibly embarrassing) details in public, but on the other hand, it's no good whispering in a noisy environment.
One solution?
Yamaha thinks adding more noise is the way forward.
Announced earlier this month is the VSP-1 noise generator, which is essentially just a speaker box that masks conversations in your desired location.
With its eight specially tuned ambient noise recordings from the seaside, forest, or river, the VSP-1 managed to mask between 47 percent and 89 percent of the conversations in four Japanese pharmacies, and the customers on the other side of the sound wall even enjoyed the soothing sounds.
Alas, Yamaha's little box doesn't come cheap -- you'll have pay around $1,267 for one when it comes out on April 20th.

There will obviously be competitors, so when decisions are being made about the private locations in your pharmacy, start to "think out of the square" for solutions that are efficient, economic and attractive in appearance.
Because more attention is being paid to privacy laws, it affects other professions and businesses as well.
Therefore check out other businesses before making your final decisions.
This is one area that pharmacy shop designers have yet to come to terms with.