Cardinal Health announces expansion of training resource, succession planning

NEW YORK One of the modules included in Cardinal Health’s myPharmacyTrainer online training site is: “How to market vitamins and herbal supplements.”

That reinforces the value in supplementing overall. There are a lot of critics out there who like to take pot shots at the supplement industry for no other reason than it's easy pickings, such as all of the professional baseball players who allege they didn’t know they were juicing on steroids because it may have been included in a supplement they were taking. And while that clouds use of sports nutritionals, mostly, those criticisms also are usually accompanied by an ill-informed opinion that supplements are wholly unregulated. So countering those inaccurate suggestions with a recommendation of use from a trusted healthcare professional helps mitigate that public-relations-style damage to the industry.

And it’s a customer service. Educating your customers around supplementing and basing any recommendations on sound science only can mean healthier customers in the long run. And isn’t that the real reason many pharmacists and pharmacy technicians stand behind the counter in the first place?

Along with being a customer service, it doesn’t hurt that any successful, health-boosting sell also helps improve the health of the pharmacy through greater profit margins as compared with the prescription-drug side of the business. It’s a “Did you know?” opportunity. For example, did you know that use of antibiotics actually kills the good bacteria with the bad? And that could mean enough change in your gut flora for even a few weeks after antibiotic use that it can inhibit the digestion and absorption of other nutrients that your body needs. Taking a probiotic a few hours after the antibiotic can help prevent that.

Or did you know that statin therapy is well-known to deplete coenzyme Q10, a nutrient that helps prevent congestive heart disease and saps a person’s energy?

Beyond nutrient depletions associated with many popular prescription-drug therapies, there are a host of other health benefits associated with supplementing.