The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 271 No 7273 p611
1 November 2003

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  Concordance
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  Out of hours
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  Ramadan
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  Medication errors
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Letters to the Editor

Ask about medicines

Less successful than PJ suggests?

From Mr S. A. Wheatley, MRPharmS

A number of pharmacist friends in various parts of the country who are engaged in providing pharmaceutical services in the community were asked recently to rate, on a scale from 1 (low) to 10 (high), the level of the public’s awareness of Ask About Medicines Week (AAMW).

The news item “When patients asked about medicines” (PJ, 25 October, p574) does not reflect the findings of this, admittedly, unscientific survey. The overall average score was 1.58. However this result included one score of 6 in a locality where the primary care trust arranged for AAMW to piggy-back onto an ongoing medication review programme. If that rogue result is taken out of the equation the average score becomes a dismal 1.18.

It is difficult not to conclude that, in community pharmacies, the event was less successful than the PJ article would suggest.

Stan Wheatley
Blandford Forum, Dorset

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