The Best Defense

The saying “The best defense is a good offense” applies not only to football and military strategy but also to health care in terms of preventing disease. This issue focuses on cough, colds, and the flu, discussing prevention strategies for you and your patients. Pharmacists are on the front line of efforts to prevent colds and the flu, chief among them being educating patients and administering flu vaccinations. The importance of strategies such as frequent hand washing and flu vaccination cannot be overemphasized, as evidenced by surprisingly low rates of both among the population.

Likewise, America’s best defense against Ebola is to contain and prevent it in Africa. Obviously, we need to send resources and health care workers there. The mandatory quarantine for returning health care workers may be discouraging others from going to Africa to help, but the quarantine is necessary to protect our nation. Do we need to close our borders, too? Should cities and states have the right to deny incoming flights with passengers who have recently been in Africa? Let us know your thoughts via Facebook and Twitter.

In business, “a good offense” means driving the market instead of just reacting to it. This requires innovation and aggressive implementation of new ideas and products. Staying ahead of the curve and beating competitors requires knowing what your customers will want, because reacting to what they already want is not optimal for maximizing market share.

A couple of months ago, Pharmacy Times launched a daily eNews service, not because our readers asked for it, but because we see a growing need for pharmacists to have important news delivered to them every day, instead of having to look for it on a website. We also send breaking eNews alerts on news such as FDA approvals that shouldn’t wait for the next daily newsletter. Reader response to these products has been very positive, confirming that we need to continue to deliver products that we believe our readers will want and need.

The world and pharmacy are changing fast, and the effects of these changes are often immediate and farreaching, so we feel obligated to keep you “ahead of the curve.” Knowledge is the best defense when it comes to health care, and getting it to you as soon as possible is our way of providing you with a good offense.

Thank you for reading!

Mike Hennessy

Chairman and CEO