E-DRUG: Information on drug use indicators for the hospital pharmacy setting (4)
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Dear Grace,
a guideline that gives a basic overview and general indications has been
developed by the WHO and can be downloaded from the website. It has been
published in 1993 but is still actual.
*How to investigate drug use in health facilities: selected drug use
indicators*. Geneva, World Health Organization, 1993 (WHO/DAP/93.1).
Best regards,
Benedetta Schiavetti
benedetta.schiavetti@gmail.com
E-DRUG: Article on why pharmaceutical policy research is needed in Pakistan
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Social pharmacy strengthening clinical pharmacy: why pharmaceutical policy research is needed in Pakistan
Pharm World Sci 2008 Oct;30(5):617-9. Epub 2008 Aug 7
http://www.springerlink.com/content/h285432j3xw5737u/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18686010
Zaheer-Ud-Din Babar1 and Shazia Jamshed2
(1) School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medical & Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
(2) Discipline of Social & Administrative Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia
Abstract: Pakistan has a population of more than 160 million and is the sixth most populous country in the world. Drugs are the most common form of treatment modality; however, inappropriate use of medicines is a crucial issue in the country. In Pakistan, recently there is a surge of number of pharmacy schools, the pharmacy degree (B. Pharm) has been changed to Pharm D and there is a lot of rhetoric about 'clinical pharmacy'. However, whether this change has brought any significant improvement in drug use situation; it is still a moot question for academics and policy makers. Authors feel that before embarking upon on clinical pharmacy at an institutional level, it is important that basic pharmacy system should be in place. Thus, a strong culture in social pharmacy or pharmaceutical policy research will not only be helpful to establish clinical pharmacy practice, but it would also be supportive enough to provide manpower to the country's proposed drug regulatory authority.
Keywords: Clinical pharmacy - Pakistan - Pharmaceutical policy research - Pharmacy education - Social pharmacy