Int J Pharm Pract 1999;7:113-27

Centre for Pharmacy Practice, School of Pharmacy, University of London, 29/39 Brunswick Square, London, England WC1N 1AX
Felicity Smith, PhD, MRPharmS, senior lecturer in pharmacy practice

fsmith@cua.ulsop.ac.uk

Review articles

Health services research methods in pharmacy - Evaluation of pharmaceutical services: (1) Objectives, designs and frameworks

FELICITY SMITH

The aim of this paper is to review the methodologies employed by health service and pharmacy practice researchers in the evaluation of pharmacy services. The review is in two parts. Part 1 discusses the application of different study designs and frameworks in the evaluation of existing and innovative services and interventions; part 2, to be published in a later issue, will address the methods and measures employed in the evaluation process. The studies included in this review were selected to give examples of different study objectives, designs and frameworks and their application in pharmacy settings. Although many of the issues regarding study design and evaluation frameworks may be relevant to clinical trials comparing the efficacy of alternative drug therapies, the focus of this paper is on pharmacy services.