The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 280 No 7492 p264
8 March 2008

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Evidence, evidence, evidence

Good news for the profession

Evidence, evidence, evidence

Pharmacists wishing to pitch new services to primary care organisations or to other commissioners will find the task much easier if their case is supported by evidence. Pharmacy seems to have a weakness in this area, a point colourfully emphasised by Andy Murdock, pharmacy representative for the Darzi review, who was speaking at a discussion day held at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s headquarters last week (p265).

Not all research needs to be all-singing and all-dancing. Randomised controlled trials may be the best way to test hypotheses and reach conclusions, but smaller studies could be just as helpful in a practical sense. It depends on what needs to be achieved.

For example, at an All-Party Pharmacy Group meeting held this week the successful implementation of pharmacy anticoagulation monitoring in Kent was highlighted. Given that the arrangements in Kent have been working well for years, why is this example of good practice only now being championed? And, with over 800 patients in the area now benefiting from this service, there is surely a potential wealth of data that deserve to be more widely disseminated.

Indeed, Sandra Gidley MP told the meeting that when new services are proposed pharmacists are always told that they need an evidence base. She emphasised the need for results, such as cost savings and reduced hospital visits for patients, to be gathered together so that a strong case for similar pharmacy services could be made elsewhere.

The Journal would like to be able to help here. Although we will continue to publish peer-reviewed original papers, we would also like to extend our research reach and invite all pharmacists to submit small studies or audits, of no more than 1,200 words, to be considered for publication.

We will have the work independently assessed to make sure that it is interesting and of practical use, and we will publish accepted submissions in a new section called “Short communications”. The idea is to encourage pharmacists to put their findings (however slight or small scale) in the public domain in order to stimulate debate, to disseminate good ideas and for the profession to learn from others’ gains — as well as their mistakes.

We await the first communication with interest.

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Good news for the profession

There will be at least three new faces elected to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Council this year out of a field of eight: two existing members of Council are standing and six new people have put their names forward (p265).

This is good news for the profession because the election will be competitive again (there was no ballot last year because there were too few candidates) and the individuals come from a broad range of backgrounds. Let us hope that they have all put their names forward because they believe wholeheartedly that the Society is central to the development of the professional body.

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