The internet is an exciting opportunity for community pharmacists as it opens up for them the potential to offer wider services to their customers, Mr Simon Colebeck (director of sales, Crookes Healthcare) said on October 12.
Many people had access to the internet and as a result were more informed about health and were more critically demanding. But often an internet search by a patient could result in him or her being overloaded with information, some of which could be of questionable quality.
For example, Mr Colebeck said, an internet search on the word "dermatitis" turned up over 92,000 web sites containing information on the condition. Pharmacists would have a role in filtering that information and helping patients make sense of it, he said.