Communication has always been a vital component of any business and the pharmacy profession is no exception. Various mediums of communication have been used over the years, including the written word through letters and publications or, more recently faxes, and verbal, via meetings and telephone calls. These have all had certain constraints and have not adequately met communication needs, but things have changed¼ ¼ .! Communication has reached the stars! We now have the Internet, which enables us to have instant communication with people or organisations all over the world, at the cost of a local telephone call.

E-mail is one of those things the importance of which you don't realise until you have it. Those who haven't used it may say, "Who needs it when I've got a phone or a postman." Simply put, e-mail is the ultimate method of communication, for both business and personal life. It offers immediate transmission of information and saves the time of waiting for postal delivery and the frustration of answering machine messages or busy signals from phones. You are also more likely to get a quick response to an e-mail. You can use it as a tool in your pharmacy - give your customers your e-mail address and they can send you questions or request orders. If you need to contact several people to give them the same information, set up a group facility and send the message once, and they will all get it! This is most useful for committees etc.

Branch communications. All the branches of the Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa and its affiliated bodies have their own site on PHARMNET, with facilities for news items, resolutions, who the committee members are and how to contact them. For example, PSSA head office can be found at www.pharmnet.co.za/pharm_network/pssa_head/pssa_head_office_welcome_intro.html
Branch committees can keep their members up-to-date in the most efficient way - changes can be made, and information added, instantly. Likewise, members can access the latest information and can contact their committees with ease - no frustrating unanswered calls. Use these sites to gain the maximum benefit from instant communication. www.pharmnet.co.za/pharm_network/pharm_network_intro.html

Newsgroups - these are one of the best sources of information exhange on the Internet. They act as structured bulletin boards. Most internet packages come with a newsgroup reader which allows you to pick certain groups to which you can subscribe. The list of newsgroups is endless and grows as each day goes by, but the ones that pharmacists are most likely to find useful are the ones beginning with 'sci.med'. Here you will find messages from patients and health professionals on all aspects of medicine. Examples include sci.med.diseases.osteoporosis and sci.med.prostate.cancer.

Send a message directly to a cell! - Short Message Service - SMS is a text message service that allows you to send a text message to a subscriber who has a cellphone that supports the SMS service. An SMS message can be sent from another cellphone or from the Internet. It may be up to 150 characters long. To use this facility go to www.pharmnet.co.za/intro/pharmnews_misc/sms.html

On-line ordering. Many pharmacists are already using this facility by ordering through Future Wave and it is hoped that more wholesalers will soon be using this type of facility on the Internet. See www.pharmnet.co.za/pharm_info/pharm_info_sources/pharm_info_sources.html

Discussion forums. Have your say and enter into the various debates. There are several types of forums available on the Internet. The more specialised ones are moderated and you will usually have to register to use them. There are also several open forums. Some of the more specific discussion forums which pharmacists from all sectors of pharmacy will find interesting, can be found at the Pharmweb site. The PharmWeb Discussion Forum is a collection of discussion groups and mailing lists specialising in specific aspects of medicine, pharmacy, pharmaceutical sciences and health-related issues. The discussion groups and mailing lists are designed to focus on specific areas and are moderated to ensure that discussions are within the scope of a particular discussion group.

http://www.pharmweb.net/pwmirror/pwq/pharmwebq.html

Some examples include the following:

International Pharmaceutical Students Federation (IPSF) Mailing List http://www.pharmweb.net/pwmirror/pwq/pharmwebq5.html

Continuing Education in Pharmacy Discussion Group http://www.pharmweb.net /pwmirror/pwq/pharmwebqe.html/

Pharmaceutical Care Discussion Group http://www.pharmweb.net /pwmirror/pwq/pharmwebq9.html/ 

PharmWeb ZA Discussion Groups - South African discussion groups http://www.pharmweb.net /pwmirror/pwx/southafrica/pharmwebza1.html
To subscribe to the Malaria discussion group, send an e-mail to listserv@wehi.edu.au. In the body of the e-mail message, you need only type the single line - subscribe malaria (preferred personal name).

A relatively new mailing list dealing with prescription drug abuse has some very interesting topics for discussion. http://www.rxnews.net/rxnewsforum.htm

Closer to home, there are several discussion forums specific to topics relevant to South African pharmacists.

Examples include Branch discussion forums, a drug information discussion forum, and a general PHARMNET discussion forum. Here you can discuss various issues relating to your professional needs such as 'ownership of pharmacy' and 'one exit pricing'. This is the platform to have your say where you will be able to reach many of your colleagues and in turn, to read what they have to say. Use these forums so that all may benefit from opinions and information. Register at www.pharmnet.co.za/intro/forum_reg.html

Please note: Some of these links have changed, should you require this information please search the home page www.pharmnet.co.za