The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 271 No 7260 p140
2 August 2003

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New standard model for the care of drug misusers to be produced

A standard model of pharmaceutical care for drug misusers in community pharmacy is being produced by researchers at the University of Bath.

As part of the research, current levels of service provision in community pharmacies will be assessed. The attitudes of community pharmacists towards drug misusers, their treatment and the role of the pharmacist in this treatment will also be investigated.

The research is being carried out by pharmacist and PhD student Rachel Britton. "I have always firmly believed that pharmacists have a huge role to play in the rehabilitation of drug misusers. We are the health care professional who is often in most regular contact with drug misusers," she says. "It is vital that such patients receive an excellent standard of care. We cannot find any evidence in the literature of a standard model of pharmaceutical care and thus this research aims to publish one."

Pharmacists in south west England can expect to receive a questionnaire in the next few weeks. "I need a good response rate to this questionnaire in order to carry out the next stage of the research," she says.