The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7194 p521-527
20 April 2002

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Pharmacists urged to publish work

Hospital pharmacists have been urged to publish the good work they are accomplishing and thereby add to the evidence showing the usefulness of the hospital pharmacy service.

Damian Child, principal pharmacist, clinical services, South Manchester University Hospitals, made this appeal while presenting the report of a project that appraised and documented the evidence supporting the effectiveness of hospital pharmacy. The project was undertaken on behalf of the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists as part of the 2001 guild research award.

Although recognising that a lot of studies are carried out in hospital pharmacy, Mr Child stressed that there was a need for more widespread dissemination. "Get it published because it helps the profession," he told the guild's annual conference in Manchester.

The project involved identifying suitable references in pharmacy practice research from 13 electronic databases, hand-searching of journals and conference proceedings, and in response to letters sent to NHS hospital chief pharmacists. By December 2001, a database of 824 references from the United Kingdom had been prepared. "We feel that the results of this study provide a good foundation for showing the usefulness of hospital pharmacy," Mr Child said.

Helen Remington, immediate past president of the guild, described the report as an "invaluable resource". She said that it will be presented to the Council of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society at a later date.

The report, "Effectiveness of hospital pharmacy: where is the evidence?", will eventually be made available on the guild's website (www.ghp.org.uk).