Two things about this issue

Our own senior editor Michael Johnsen has become somewhat famous among the Drug Store News editorial team for his “two-thing” commentaries on just about any subject.



This month, as we close this issue of DSN, I find myself with “two things” worth noting.



First, a word about the cover:



By now, you have probably seen some variation of the DirecTV “Don’t be like this ... ” commercials that mock the fictional alter-egos of actor Rob Lowe, and more recently a handful of NFL quarterbacks. My personal favorite is “bad comedian” Eli Manning.



Because of the many different ways that the pharmacists we profile in this issue are improving their patients’ lives and advancing the profession of pharmacy, we thought the best way to illustrate who they are, was to show you who they are not.



Second, a word about my trip to Brazil:



The trip made me realize that the challenges and opportunities — and the solutions — that face community pharmacy are really the same all over the world. An October report from the International Pharmaceutical Federation points to at least two strong indicators that I am right: pharmacy reimbursement rates are a problem in 49 countries across the globe, and a growing number of these countries is responding — or has responded — by advancing the role of the community pharmacist (40%), or creating a framework to do so (almost 60%).