The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 271 No 7271 p558
18 October 2003

This article
Reprint
Photocopy

PDF* 90K

UK Medicines Information

Medicines information training has taken a large step forward

Medicines information training has taken a significant step forward with the introduction of a national training workbook, Peter Golightly, chairman of the UKMi Pharmacists Group said, opening the conference. This has been distributed to all hospital preregistration trainees in Great Britain, enabling them to meet established Royal Pharmaceutical Society and UKMi competencies under the supervision of local tutors. It has also been sent to basic grade hospital pharmacists. The structured tutorial system within the workbook is helping to develop MI enquiry answering and critical appraisal skills for pharmacists, he said. Pharmacists are taught how to make the best use of resources and taken through a detailed guide to types of enquiry received (eg, side effects, prescribing in pregnancy). Mr Golightly added that the workbook has also proved popular with more senior hospital pharmacists, technicians and primary care trust advisers as part of their continuing professional development.

Participants heard that, in future, pharmacists wishing to pursue careers in MI will need to complete 150 hours of formal training before being eligible to enter a more advanced national MI training course, currently in development. The workbook will provide the core training towards this, alongside an interactive system called MiCAL (Medicines Information Computer Aided learning) and the national introductory MI training course.

Mr Golightly went on to discuss how training is necessary in order to deal efficiently with the vast amount of new information available on a daily basis. An important resource in this regard is the Druginfozone website (www.druginfozone.nhs.uk), he said. This has been enhanced to provide easier access to MI resources and has won a national information technology award.

Recently another tool to help with the management of information has been successfully piloted. The DI-Scan “paperless office” software enables MI centres to record all their activities electronically without the need for paper records. A revised national version has been commissioned, which will incorporate greater electronic security. It will be accessible to both regional and local MI centres in the near future.

Mr Golightly concluded with a look at the opportunities and barriers to developing the MI service. Trust mergers, local cost pressures, and recruitment and retention issues could lead to a loss of MI expertise within the national network. It is also not clear what “Agenda for change”, the new national pay scheme for the NHS, will mean for MI as a specialty. But with the extended role of pharmacists in supplementary prescribing, the ever increasing importance of medicines management, and further collaboration with service partners such as NHS Direct, the opportunities for MI over the next few years lie in the direction of new models for service provision and effective use of resources, he concluded.

What are the key principles of adult learning?

During a workshop, Lyn Hanning, education and training pharmacist for the South West region, led a group in a discussion of the key principles of adult learning. Adults learn differently to children: they are more self-directed learners, more problem-centred in their approach (rather than subject centred), and tend to draw on previous experience. It is also notable that people learn in different ways. Ms Hanning drew participants’ attention to this as an important issue to be aware of when training staff. Since people respond differently to various learning styles depending on their approach. The four major styles of learning are:

Activist Open-minded enthusiasts about new things, who are active and led by experiences. They like to be at the centre of activity and are bored by lack of variety or lack of long-term plans.

Reflector Thoughtful and rigorous data gatherers who are often quiet and reflect on information for some time before coming to conclusions. They are good listeners, but often rather cautious.

Theorist Analytical people, who adopt a logical approach to problem solving. They prefer the rational, evidence-based approach and feel uncomfortable with subjective information. They can be perfectionists.

Pragmatist Confident, practical people who like to act quickly and make progress. They are experimenters who like to try things out, but they can be impatient.

Teaching in only one style will not address everyone’s learning needs. It is therefore important to vary learning styles, for example mixing more practical “hands-on” experience with tutorials and workshops.

To close, Paul Mills, East Anglian Medicines Information Centre, discussed the proposed advanced training programme for MI pharmacists, currently under development. It is envisaged this will consist of self-directed learning and two residential blocks of five days each. The course is aimed at those pharmacists with experience in managing an MI service and is likely to be assessed with a project and summative assessment.