The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7248 p636
10 May 2003

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Put pen to paper [more]
Good practice in clinical trials [more]

Put pen to paper

This week The Journal carries two specific invitations to readers to contribute to future issues. The first is a call for papers and articles to be considered for a themed issue for 11 October on compliance and concordance. This issue will complement a themed BMJ issue, both to be published just before "Ask about medicines" week. The "Ask about medicines" campaign is designed to encourage patients to find out more about their medication — why have their medicines been prescribed and what will they do? — on the grounds that the more patients know and understand, the more likely they are to take them. Pharmacists will have the chance to play a large part in the campaign — details to be announced shortly — so any reader with a story to tell could consider putting pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, now (see p649).

The second invitation is for locum pharmacists to take part in an informal survey (p654) following a detailed analysis of their responses to last autumn's workforce census. It is now established that a significant number of members of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society work as locums, part-time, full-time or on an occasional basis as an adjunct to a permanent post. What is not known is whether or not being a locum is a career choice or a short-term option. This is an opportunity for locum pharmacists to tell The Journal more about themselves. Are they a growing band? Might they dominate the workforce in five to 10 years' time? If they do, what will be the implications for community employers and the National Health Service?

Finally, details of the special general meeting for 1 June are announced on p665. Members wishing to raise points about the issues to be discussed are invited to send letters to the editor which we must receive by Friday 23 May at the latest. In order to allow as many members as possible to air their views, letters must not exceed 400 words. Those accepted for publication will appear on 24 and 31 May.

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Good practice in clinical trials

All you ever wanted to know about good practice in clinical trials can be found in the article on p657 of this week's issue. In addition, in a news feature (p643) we explore the human side of clinical trials — how volunteers and patients are recruited, how they are looked after during the trial and what benefits they may expect. Impoverished pharmacy students might be tempted to volunteer for a weekend in a trials unit — our research suggests they may earn as much as £700 a time. However, there is a case to be made that all students studying pharmacy, medicine and nursing should volunteer to participate in drug trials. Once they have qualified they are going to be responsible for ensuring medicines are prescribed, dispensed and administered properly, and their experience as volunteers can only be of benefit as they explain to a reluctant patient the merits of taking a new medicine.

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