Drugstore is a common American term for a type of store centrally featuring a pharmacy. Drugstores sell not only medicines, but also miscellaneous items such as candy, cosmetics, and magazines, as well as light refreshments. In the mid 1980’s, during the height of the “war on drugs”, many stores removed the term “Drugstore” from their signage and replaced it with the more politically correct term “Pharmacy”. A store that sells health care products and medicine. Customers can buy both over-the-counter and prescription medication at a drug store.
It is not uncommon for drug stores to carry other frequently used household products and merchandise. The terms pharmacy and drugstore are often used synonymously; however, while they may appear to have some similarities, there are vast differences between the two. The only thing they have in common is that both sell medications to customers. The differences are related to the types of medications sold, to whom they are sold, the staff working at the counter and the type of help or advice available to customers. 1. Prescription Medications
* Only a doctor can prescribe certain medications, and prescription medications must follow strict regulations as to how they are sold and who sells them. Pharmacies have specially trained and qualified staff who are legally able to sell the medications, following the doctor’s orders. Drugstores, in general, do not sell prescription medications. Over-the-Counter Medications * Over-the Counter, or OTC, medications do not require a prescription or orders from a medical professional. These medications are sold directly from the manufacturer to the drugstore for consumer purchase.
OTC medications include pain relievers, cold medications and low-strength antibiotic ointments. Herbal supplements, diet pills and vitamins are also considered OTC medications and are sold in drugstores. * Sponsored Links * USP 797 Cleaning Products Cost effective cleaning solutions for USP 797 compliance www. berkshire-usp797. com Staff and Personnel * Pharmacies are staffed by at least one certified pharmacist and qualified pharmacy technicians. Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are specifically trained in pharmacology, dosages, drug interactions and side effects.
Their job is to fill prescriptions, ensure proper dosage amounts, educate customers on the medication’s use and side effects and prevent inappropriate drug interactions with the customer’s other medications. Drugstore personnel are not required to hold any credentials or certifications. Their job is to help customers find what they are looking for and sell merchandise. They have no authority to offer medical advice or discuss a customer’s health and medication history. Drug Store Variety.
* While pharmacies specifically sell prescription medications, drugstores often sell a variety of OTC medications, supplements, vitamins and personal care items. In addition to medications, customers are able to find items such as hair-care products, soap, first aid supplies, makeup, skin-care products and other items related to personal care and beauty. Most drugstores also provide a small selection of convenience items such as small toys and coloring supplies, tissue paper, motor oil and holiday-related items; however, the bulk of items available are related to self-care.
Drugstores do not sell prescription medications, although most drugstores do have a pharmacy inside as part of the services they offer. Sponsored Links * Healthcare ManagementWaldenUniversity. com/MBA_Programs Accredited MBA Program. Study Online & Further Your Career! * Vinpocetine Bulk – Covexwww. covex. com Any amount. Next day shipment. Direct from manufacturer. * Sunsilk Hair Expertswww. facebook. com/hairexperts Be free to do whatever you want w/ your hair. Ask the experts here. * Jobs in Top CompaniesMonster. com. ph/V Read more: What Is the Difference Between a Pharmacy & a Drugstore? | eHow. com http://www.
ehow. com/info_8246240_difference-between-pharmacy-drugsto re. html#ixzz28g83Uz7Y Drugstore is a common American term for a type of store centrally featuring a pharmacy. Drugstores sell not only medicines, but also miscellaneous items such as candy, cosmetics, and magazines, as well as light refreshments. In the mid 1980’s, during the height of the “war on drugs”, many stores removed the term “Drugstore” from their signage and replaced it with the more politically correct term “Pharmacy”. Read more: http://www. answers. com/topic/drugstore#ixzz28gABOze8 Pharmacies are lucrative businesses with sure demands.
By starting a pharmacy business and knowing the start up requirements, you will be able to make it big and earn big! Pharmacies are very important business establishments in a community or city because this is where people buy drugs and other medical supplies needed especially for home medications, hospitals, or emergencies. Some pharmacies are accessible 24 hours while some are open for a certain time of the day. Pharmacies are varying in demand anywhere that is why this can also be a good business idea. People are concerned with their health and this gives pharmacies a lot of sure customers everyday.
So now that you are really convinced in starting a pharmacy business, here are some of the tips or steps on how you can successfully open and run your own pharmacy or drug store. The main job of a pharmacy is to fill prescriptions made by doctors or other medical professionals. A pharmacist offers advice on medication and a pharmacy technician helps package the prescription. Right now, added services are being offered by most pharmacies while some also have their own health and food convenience stores. Some medicines that can be bought from pharmacies don’t require prescription.
Depending on what type of drug store you are going to put up, you have to plan and you have to know that the basic job is to fill prescriptions for people. The first step is to establish your business by having a name, applying for grants, permits, or even loans. In order to avoid fines and penalties, you have to make sure that the proper paperwork is done and all the requirements are completed and submitted. For grants, you may even qualify based in the location of your business of the number of population in the area. Once you have already established your business, the next thing to do is to promote and advertise.
Good marketing can keep you up with the competition in the area. First, you have to coordinate with eh pharmaceutical representatives in the area especially with the health care facilities around your location. Build relationships and familiarize all the drug companies and their representative in order to take advantage with their special offers, samples, and discounts. Customer referrals can also be gained if you have built good relationships with the health care facilities. Word of mouth can be a good advertising strategy especially when your customers are satisfied with your services and the quality of the products that you are selling.
Organize your products especially the medicines. You may arrange them according to products or equipments but usually, most pharmacies arrange it by the maker of the drugs. You must develop a system in stocking, shelving, and retrieving the medicine. This will make your service faster and your products fresh. Hire trained staff and make sure that you always emphasize good customer service. You may use advanced software in making transactions especially in managing the finances and monitoring the growth of your business. Pharmacy profession has existed in a rudimentary form from time immemorial.
It is fruitless to try to determine when it started. Greeks were one of the first patrons of this profession. The word pharmacy originated from the Greek word “PHARMAKON”. It was in 9th century in the civilized world around Baghdad that the profession of pharmacy started acquiring shape. It slowly spread to Europe as alchemy and finally developed into chemistry. The first known chemical process was carried out by the artisans of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China. However in the 19th century it completely sprouted out from medicine and started developing as a separate profession.
This happened only when the role of pharmacist as a compounder of medicines were identified and differentiated from physician whose role was accepted as the therapist. The practice in those times was restricted to compounding, dispensing medication and manufacturing medicaments in bulk lots not for general sale. The medicament commonly produced was simple elixirs, spirits, and powders in contrast to the complex pharmaceutical remedies of the present era. The 19th century witnessed various milestones being set in the field of pharmacy. In 1821, first school of pharmacy was established in U. S at Philadelphia.
The first U. S pharmacopoeia was published in 1820. American pharmacist association was founded in 1852. The first National formulary was published in 1888. The inception of pharmacy profession in India was marked by the first class of the chemist and druggist conducted at the Madras medical college in 1870s to train students to gain skills in pharmacy practice. Pharmacy education pattern was based on the instructions provided by the pharmaceutical society of Great Britain. A formal training of the compounders was started in 1881 in Bengal. The pharmacy profession entered India almost simultaneously with U.
S but the growth in India remained very slow. For almost half a century not much progress was noticed, until B. pharm course was started in 1937 at Banaras Hindu University and in 1944 at the Punjab University, Lahore now in Pakistan. The B. pharm course at BHU was industry oriented while that at Punjab University was oriented towards Pharmacy practice. Though the profession was oriented towards pharmacy practice at the introductory stage but as it grew it became more industry oriented. This bend lead to the development of modern Indian pharmaceutical industry, which is now the 4th in terms of volume and 14th in terms of value.
The future prediction for the Indian pharmaceutical industry is that it is expected to become the super power by the year 2020. As the pharmaceutical industry is becoming highly automatic the bend is again towards the pharmacy practice like the rest of the world. The future of a pharmacy is in pharmacy practice. So, it is now observed that pharmacy in India is going back to from where it started: Pharmacy Practice. Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs.
The scope of pharmacy practice includes more traditional roles such as compounding and dispensing medications, and it also includes more modern services related to health care, including clinical services, reviewing medications for safety and efficacy, and providing drug information. Pharmacists, therefore, are the experts on drug therapy and are the primary health professionals who optimize medication use to provide patients with positive health outcomes. An establishment in which pharmacy (in the first sense) is practiced is called a pharmacy, chemist’s or drugstore.
In the United States and Canada, drug stores commonly sell not only medicines, but also miscellaneous items such as candy (sweets), cosmetics, and magazines, as well as light refreshments or groceries. The word pharmacy is derived from its root word pharma which was a term used since the 15th–17th centuries. However, the original Greek roots from “Pharmakos” imply sorcery or even poison. [1]. In addition to pharma responsibilities, the pharma offered general medical advice and a range of services that are now performed solely by other specialist practitioners, such as surgery and midwifery.
The pharma (as it was referred to) often operated through a retail shop which, in addition to ingredients for medicines, sold tobacco and patent medicines. The pharmas also used many other herbs not listed. The Greek word Pharmakeia (Greek: ????????? ) derives from Greek: ???????? (pharmakon), meaning “drug” or “medicine”[2] (the earliest form of the word is the Mycenaean Greek pa-ma-ko, attested in Linear B syllabic script[3]). In its investigation of herbal and chemical ingredients, the work of the pharma may be regarded as a precursor of the modern sciences of chemistry andpharmacology, prior to the formulation of the scientific method.
With the growth of the online gaming industry and the influence of the internet in our daily lives, a lot of people are in need to be “connected”. Unfortunately, not everyone here in the Philippines has access to good hardware and a decent connection. But all of that is changing now, especially with the frenetic rise of Internet Cafes in our country. For the local MMORPG industry, roughly 80% of our business comes from the cafes. So it’s important to have a good relationship with our “partners”. Meanwhile, I’m certain that a lot of individuals or friends (mostly thru gaming) are considering opening up their own shop.
Mind you, it’s no joke. A business is always serious. I thought I’d share with you some practical tips on how to start (and maintain) your own Internet Cafe. One more click, faps… HOW TO START YOUR OWN INTERNET CAFE BUSINESS Budget – An internet cafe with around 20 seats will push you back P700 to P1M in capital. Of course, the more seats, the more money you will need. If you don’t have the cash, you can find partners to pool in money. I believe that the optimum number of partners for this project will be 4. Expect an ROI (Return of Investment) of 1 to 2 years. Also, I would suggest against forming a business with your close friends.
The chances of ruining your friendship is high. Just note that. Location – Aside from the moolah, location is one of the KEY FACTORS FOR SUCCESS. Keywords to look for when scouting; near a school, heavy foot traffic, not too many competitors in the area. You should try to look for a place that’s easy to spot (from the customers perspective, ok? ). A good monthly rental is P15,000 to P25,000 a month, more than that and you’ll have to work double time for the return. Hardware – Try to budget P25,000 to P35,000 per PC. Remember, I always tell potential entrepreneurs to “invest for the future”.
Do not scrimp out on memory, processing power or video cards. The logic here is that a) okay, so you save a few bucks but your computers will be trash in less than a year and b) you should have a faster PC than your competitors – it’s your “edge”. And hey, if you can get LCD monitors for all computers, do so! The cost savings on electricity will more than pay for itself. Connection – again, a faster and decent connection in your cafe will be a key selling point. Don’t worry too much about marketing, if you have the best computers and the fastest connection in your area, sheer WORD-OF-MOUTH will drive customers through YOUR door.
It’s a fact. So try to get the best kbps package that you can afford. Also, if you have the money, you can always get another as back-up in case your primary connection goes down. Set-Up – if you’re a techie, you can probably do the wiring and the setup of the routers and switches yourself. But if you can’t, there are professionals who can do it for you. If you can’t find one in your province or city, grab a copy of Buy&Sell or discreetly ask the tech guy at the PC shop where you bought your hardware if he can do a little moonlighting for your new shop. Software – if you plan to start small, you don’t have to pay to install MMORPGs.
The installers are free. Just tell me if you need it delivered to your new shop and I’ll get the Sales boys on it right away. For office applications, openoffice is free and mimics Micro$oft. For a good, free billing solution, try handycafe Other services – Food is always a good extra source of income. Check out my post on Gamer Food 101 and you’ll see what gamers need and want. Printing, Fax and Xerox (photocopying) are other good sources of supplementary revenue. Staff – If you’ve formed a partnership, take turns with your partners manning the shop. Just make a schedule. If you’re going to hire someone, hire someone you can trust.
You have to set “check and balance” systems (such as an advance billing system) to avoid fraud and theft. It may be tempting to hire an avid gamer to staff your shop but if he has friends and he let’s them play for free… you know what that will bring you. Speaking of free play, tell your all your friends that you can’t allow them to play for free. It IS a business after all. But tell them you can give them a discount. If they really are your friends, they’ll understand. An internet cafe or cybercafe is a place which provides internet access to the public, usually for a fee.
These businesses usually provide snacks and drinks, hence the cafe in the name. The fee for using a computer is usually charged as a time-based rate. History SFnet logo circa 1993, San Francisco, CA Cyberia: one of the world’s first Internet cafes, London, 1994 A solar powered internet cafe in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. An internet cafe in Kulim, Kedah, Malaysia. The online cafe phenomenon was started in July 1991 by Wayne Gregori in San Francisco when he began SFnet Coffeehouse Network. Gregori designed, built and installed 25 coin operated computer terminals in coffeehouses throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
The cafe terminals dialed into a 32 line Bulletin Board System that offered an array of electronic services including FIDOnet mail and, in 1992, Internet mail. [1] The concept of a cafe with full Internet access (and the name Cybercafe) was invented in early 1994 by Ivan Pope. Commissioned to develop an Internet event for an arts weekend at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London, and inspired by the SFnet terminal based cafes, Pope wrote a proposal outlining the concept of a cafe with Internet access from the tables.
The event was run over the weekend of 12–13 March 1994 during the ‘Towards the Aesthetics of the Future’ event. In June 1994, The Binary Cafe, Canada’s first Internet cafe, opened in Toronto, Ontario. After an initial appearance at the conference site of the 5th International Symposium on Electronic Art, ISEA, in August 1994, an establishment called CompuCafe was established in Helsinki, Finland, featuring both Internet access and a robotic beer seller. Inspired partly by the ICA event, a commercial establishment of this type, called Cyberia, opened on September 1, 1994 in London, England.
In January 1995, CB1 Cafe in Cambridge, installed internet and is the longest running Internet Cafe in the UK, still operating today. [2] The first public, commercial American Internet cafe was conceived and opened by Jeff Anderson in August 1994, at Infomart in Dallas, Texas and was called The High Tech Cafe. [3] Next, in the USA, three Internet cafes opened in the East Village neighborhood of New York City: Internet Cafetm, opened by Arthur Perley, the @ Cafe, and the Heroic Sandwich.
[4] In 1996, the Internet cafe Surf City opened in downtown Anchorage, Alaska. A variation of Internet cafe called PC bang (similar to LAN gaming center) became extremely popular in South Korea when StarCraft was released in 1997. Although computer and broadband penetration per capita were very high, young people went to PC bangs to play multiplayer games. [edit]Characteristics Internet cafes are located worldwide, and many people use them when traveling to access webmail and instant messaging services to keep in touch with family and friends.
Apart from travelers, in many developing countries Internet cafes are the primary form of Internet access for citizens as a shared-access model is more affordable than personal ownership of equipment and/or software. A variation on the Internet cafe business model is the LAN gaming center, used for multiplayer gaming. These cafes have several computer stations connected to a LAN. The connected computers are custom-assembled for gameplay, supporting popular multiplayer games. This is reducing the need for video arcades and arcade games, many of which are being closed down or merged into Internet cafes.
The use of Internet cafes for multiplayer gaming is particularly popular in certain areas of Asia like China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea and the Philippines. In some countries, since practically all LAN gaming centers also offer Internet access, the terms net cafe and LAN gaming center have become interchangeable. Again, this shared-access model is more affordable than personal ownership of equipment and/or software, specially since games often require high end and expensive PCs.
There are also Internet kiosks, Internet access points in public places like public libraries, airport halls, sometimes just for brief use while standing. Many hotels, resorts, and cruise ships offer Internet access for the convenience of their guests; this can take various forms, such as in-room wireless access, or a web browser that uses the in-room television set for its display (usually in this case the hotel provides a wireless keyboard on the assumption that the guest will use it from the bed), or computer(s) that guests can use, either in the lobby or in a business center.
As with telephone service, in the US most mid-price hotels offer Internet access from a computer in the lobby to registered guests without charging an additional fee, while fancier hotels are more likely to charge for the use of a computer in their “business center. ” For those traveling by road in North America, many truck stops have Internet kiosks, for which a typical charge is around 20 cents per minute.
[5] Internet cafes come in a wide range of styles, reflecting their location, main clientele, and sometimes, the social agenda of the proprietors. In the early days they were important in projecting the image of the Internet as a ‘cool’ phenomenon. Questions: a. What is the current or projected demand for your proposed products or services? In other words, how many units can you reasonably expect to sell each month? b. What are the target markets for this product or service?
What demographic characteristics do these potential customers have in common? How many of them are there? c. What is the projected supply in your area of the products or services needed for your project? d. What competition exists in this market? Can you establish a market niche which will enable you to compete effectively with others providing this product or service? e. Is the location of your proposed business or project likely to affect its success? If so, is the identified site the most appropriate one available?