Media interest in BPC practice research
Media attention given to the pharmacy practice research element of the 2003 British Pharmaceutical Conference has been much appreciated by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Practice Research Division and the BPC Practice Research Adjudicating Panel.
The practice research presentations were the main focus of media interest
at the conference, which was held in Harrogate from 15 to 17 September.
The chairman of the adjudicating panel, Professor James McElnay, said: “It
is gratifying to see that practice research has made the headlines and
reached such a wide audience. This is good news for the panel, the conference,
the researchers, the universities and the research funders.”
The head of the Society’s practice research division, Dr Sue Ambler,
said: “The Society is investing time, money and effort into supporting
and developing practice research. It is great to see the work of academic
and practitioner researchers being rewarded and recognised. It makes
the effort worthwhile.”
Among the practice research projects that received media coverage were
several concerned with the role of the pharmacist in identifying and
managing type 2 diabetes. One study, which showed the value of community
pharmacists in the early identification of diabetes in at-risk groups
of patients, attracted attention particularly because of its finding
that as many as one in 10 apparently healthy adults of South Asian origin
may have undiagnosed diabetes. The research, carried out in inner-city
Bradford by researchers from the University of Bradford, was covered
by national and regional newspapers and by local radio stations in a
number of cities with high Asian populations.
A Pharmacy Alliance study of community pharmacists’ contribution
to addressing the needs of diabetes patients was the subject of a local
radio interview, as was an assessment of a pharmacist-led diabetes clinic
in a Darlington hospital.
Another project that received wide press coverage was an assessment of
a coronary heart disease service in a Moss pharmacy in Sheffield. Researcher
François Joubert found that the service identified significant
number of patients at high cardiac risk. The work was reported in national,
regional and local newspapers and Mr Joubert was interviewed by a local
radio station.
Media attention also focused on research highlighting the risk of interactions
between complementary medicines and allopathic drugs, presented by Swati
Patel, a Tesco teacher-practitioner based at King’s College London.
Ms Patel was interviewed for television by Five News (PJ, 27 September,
p409) and for radio by BBC West Midlands. Reports also appeared in a
national newspaper and on BBC News Online.
Other practice research that attracted media coverage included work on
medicines management in depression by John Donoghue, of Liverpool school
of pharmacy, and a study showing the patient benefits of a pharmacist-initiated
eradication therapy for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus at
George Eliot Hospital, Nuneaton.
The biggest source of media interest apart from practice research was
a science poster reporting that liquorice reduces testosterone levels
in male volunteers.
|
