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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Sales skills for health-care professionals: the emotional side of sales.

Health-care sales continues to be an area of opportunity for many laboratory professionals. For those who possess the necessary skills and the desire to enthusiastically embrace the unique challenges of a sales career, a new CLMA publication by CLMR contributor Donna L. Nigon, MT(ASCP), titled Sales Skills for Health-Care Professionals, will provide the knowledge of sales structure and techniques needed to succeed. This Sales Skills excerpt, "The Emotional Side of Sales," describes many of the emotional aspects of sales and selling, including how to handle the transition from a technical or medical role to that of sales representative, relationship building, maintaining personal and professional support systems, dealing with rejection, avoiding burnout, time management, and customer concerns. For more information about this book, please see the order form that accompanies this excerpt, or visit www.clma.org.

Burnout, Professional↗

Handgun sales, beer sales, and youth homicide, California, 1972-1993.

Whether regulating access to firearms and alcohol will reduce violent injuries is an important policy question. Empirical answers are difficult to obtain because only observational data are available. The present study estimated the association of firearm sales and alcohol sales with subsequent homicides, after adjusting statistically for potential confounders (e.g., unemployment rates) using California data from 1972 through 1993. Handgun sales and beer sales were lagged one year and used to explain variation in the homicides of Californians (e.g., 1990 sales were used to explain 1991 homicides). Differences across population groups were investigated, with a focus on 15- to 34-year-olds, the highest risk age group. Even when taking potential confounders in the base population into account, beer sales and handgun sales generally are associated positively one year later with homicide, particularly among young men. Reducing beer sales may reduce homicides. And, although they represent a small fraction of existing firearms, regulating the number of handguns sold may reduce the number of homicides.

Adolescent↗

Interventions for preventing tobacco sales to minors.

BACKGROUND: Laws restricting sales of tobacco products to minors exist in many countries, but young people may still purchase cigarettes easily. OBJECTIVES: The review assesses the effects of interventions to reduce underage access to tobacco by deterring shopkeepers from making illegal sales. SEARCH STRATEGY: We searched the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction group trials register and Medline. Date of the most recent searches: July 1999. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included controlled trials and uncontrolled studies with pre- and post intervention assessment of interventions to change retailers' behaviour. The outcomes were changes in retailer compliance with legislation (assessed by test purchasing), changes in young people's smoking behaviour, and perceived ease of access to tobacco products. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Studies were prescreened for relevance by one person and assessed for inclusion by two people independently. Data from included studies were extracted by one person and checked by a second. Study designs and types of intervention were heterogeneous so results were synthesised narratively, with greater weight given to controlled studies. MAIN RESULTS: We identified 27 studies of which 13 were controlled. Giving retailers information was less effective in reducing illegal sales than active enforcement and/or multicomponent educational strategies. No strategy achieved complete, sustained compliance. In three controlled trials, there was little effect of intervention on youth perceptions of access or prevalence of smoking. REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: Interventions with retailers can lead to large decreases in the number of outlets selling tobacco to youths. However, few of the communities studied in this review achieved sustained levels of high compliance. This may explain why there is limited evidence for an effect of intervention on youth perception of ease of access to tobacco, and on smoking behaviour.

Adolescent↗

Reduction in outpatient antibiotic sales for pre-school children: interrupted time series analysis of weekly antibiotic sales data in Sweden 1992-2002.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to use detailed weekly data on outpatient antibiotic sales for pre-school children in Sweden to test for the significance of trends during 1992-2002. We also report on the special features found in weekly antibiotic data, and how the interrupted time series (ITS) design can adjust for this. METHODS: Weekly data on the total number of dispensed outpatient antibiotic prescriptions to pre-school children were studied, as well as the individual subgroups commonly used to treat respiratory tract infections in children: narrow-spectrum penicillins, broad-spectrum penicillins and macrolides. In parallel, monthly data of paracetamol sales of paediatric dosages were analysed to reflect trends in symptomatic treatment. An ITS model controlling for seasonality and autocorrelation was used to examine the datasets for significant level and trend shifts. RESULTS: A significant increase in mean and change in level could be found in the total antibiotic data in 1997, also reflected in broad-spectrum penicillin data where a similar trend break occurred in 1996. For macrolides, a trend break with a decrease in mean was noted in 1996, but no trend breaks were found in narrow-spectrum penicillin data. In contrast to the general decreasing trends in antibiotic sales, the yearly over-the-counter sales of paracetamol in paediatric preparations increased during the same period, with no identified trend breaks. CONCLUSIONS: The overall decrease in antibiotic sales and increase in paediatric paracetamol sales might suggest that symptomatic treatment in the home has increased, as antibiotics are less commonly prescribed.

Acetaminophen↗

Effects of energy-content labels and motivational posters on sales of sugar-sweetened beverages: stimulating sales of diet drinks among adults study.

This study examined the effects of an environmental intervention promoting more non-energy-containing beverage consumption compared to sugar-sweetened soft drink consumption through vending machines in an urban college setting. Eight soft drink vending machines were randomly selected and assigned to one of three conditions over a 9-week period: energy-content labels on non-energy-containing beverage selection panels (intervention I), labels plus motivational posters (intervention II), or control. The totals of all beverages sold and machine revenue were recorded at baseline (2 weeks), intervention (5 weeks), and postintervention (2 weeks) periods. Use of energy-content labels and motivational posters, compared with control group, resulted in a significantly lower growth rate of sugar-sweetened beverage sales (P<0.05). Total revenue for all beverages increased during the intervention period. It is estimated that the non-energy-containing beverages combined accounted for 70.52% of the increased revenue. Results of this study suggest that energy-content labels and motivational posters on beverage vending machines may be an effective way to influence beverage sales.

Beverages↗

Increased sales and thefts of candy as a function of sales promotion activities: Preliminary findings.

We used an A-B-A design to evaluate the effects of two commonly used promotional activities-price reduction and increased exposure, in combination and separately-on sales and thefts of candy at a grocery store. The combination of activities and the increased exposure condition produced the greatest increases in sales. The combination of activities was also associated with the greatest increase in thefts.

Journal Article↗

Monitoring over-the-counter medication sales for early detection of disease outbreaks--New York City.

INTRODUCTION: Over-the-counter (OTC) medications are frequently used during the initial phase of illness, and increases in their sales might serve as an early indicator of communitywide disease outbreaks. Since August 2002, the New York City (NYC) Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) has tracked OTC medication sales to enhance detection of natural and intentional infectious disease outbreaks. OBJECTIVES: This report describes the surveillance system and presents results from retrospective analyses and a comparison between citywide trends in OTC medication sales and emergency department (ED) visits. METHODS: Sales data transmitted daily to DOHMH are categorized into two groups: influenza-like illness (ILI), which includes cough and influenza medications, and gastrointestinal illness (GI), which includes major brand and generic antidiarrheals. Cyclical, linear regression models were used to identify significant (p<0.05) increases in the daily ratio of ILI to analgesics sales (analgesics are used as a denominator in the absence of total sales). Daily and weekly average ratios of GI to analgesic sales were analyzed. Citywide trends in OTC ILI and GI medication sales were compared with ED visits for fever/influenza and diarrhea syndromes. RESULTS: Citywide ILI drug sales were highest during annual influenza epidemics and elevated during spring and fall allergy seasons, similar to trends in the ED fever/influenza syndrome. ILI sales did not consistently provide earlier warning than the ED system of communitywide influenza. GI drug sales increased during the fall and peaked during early winter and after the blackout of August 2003. Unlike ED diarrheal visits, GI medication sales did not substantially increase during late winter (February-March). CONCLUSION: Citywide OTC medication sales can provide indications of communitywide illness, including annual influenza epidemics. Antidiarrheal medication sales were more sensitive to increases in GI caused by norovirus and influenza than illness caused by rotavirus. OTC medication sales can be considered as an adjunct syndromic surveillance system but might not be as sensitive as ED systems.

Commerce↗

Use of point-of-sale data to track usage patterns of residential pesticides: methodology development.

BACKGROUND: Residential-use pesticides have been shown to be a major source of pesticide exposure to people in the United States. However, little is understood about the exposures to household pesticides and the resultant health effects. One reason that little is known about home-use pesticide exposure is the lack of comprehensive data on exposures to pesticides in the home. One method to help ascertain the amount of pesticides present in the home is use of point-of-sale data collected from marketing companies that track product sales to obtain the volume of pesticides sold for home-use. This provides a measure of volume of home-use pesticide. METHODS: We have constructed a searchable database containing sales data for home-use permethrin-containing pesticides sold by retail stores in the United States from January 1997 through December 2002 in an attempt to develop a tracking method for pesticide. This pilot project was conducted to determine if point-of-sale data would be effective in helping track the purchase of home-use permethrin containing pesticides and if it would stand as a good model for tracking sales of other home-use pesticides. RESULTS: There are several limitations associated with this tracking method, including the availability of sales data, market coverage, and geographic resolution. As a result, a fraction of sales data potentially available for reporting is represented in this database. However, the database is sensitive to the number and type of merchants reporting permethrin sales. Further, analysis of the sale of individual products included in the database indicates that year to year variability has a greater impact on reported permethrin sales than the amount sold by each type of merchant. CONCLUSION: We conclude that, while nothing could completely replace a detailed exposure assessment to estimate exposures to home-use pesticides, a point-of-sale database is a useful tool in tracking the purchase of these types of pesticides to 1) detect anomalous trends in regional and seasonal pesticide sales warranting further investigation into the potential causes of the trends; 2) determine the most commonly purchased application types; and 3) compare relative trends in sales between indoor and outdoor use products as well as compare trends in sales between different active ingredients.

Commerce↗