PJ, January 2000

Absent again on sick leave

Staff absences due to sick leave can cause problems for employers and fellow employees. This article looks at how this matter can be handled…

The burdens of history

Pharmacy’s progress over the past 200 years owes much to a few dedicated individuals who put the greater good of the profession they represented above their own personal interests. For the past 160 years this has been done largely through the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. Legi…

The changing role of pharmacists in mental health

Over 100 pharmacists attended the United Kingdom Psychiatric Pharmacy Group’s (UKPPG) 24th annual and 6th international conference, which took place from October 8 to 10, 1999, in London. Among other matters discussed were the setting up of a College for Mental Health Pharmacists, neuroleptic …

Can community pharmacists provide a clinical pharmacy service to community hospitals?

Aim To examine whether interventions made by community pharmacists in a community hospital were appropriate and to compare the effectiveness of an external peer review with an expert panel as a quality assurance mechanism. De…

The Industrial Pharmacist: Council must reconsider

Sir, I was disappointed to read that the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s informative journal, The Industrial Pharmacist, may no longer be published for financial reasons. While I appreciate the importance of the commercial bottom line, I wonder if the Council has thought through the message that i…

Drug-induced eosinophilia

This review looks at drugs that produce eosinophilia and explains how this condition may be managed.…

The demise of homoeopathy?

The two main principles of homoeopathy, namely the law of similars and the notion that highly potentised (diluted) remedies can be effective even though they are unlikely to contain a single molecule of the original substance, have remained controversial throughout their 200-year history. Opponents …

Pharmacy at Portsmouth university – change and challenge

Pamela Mason visited the school of pharmacy and biomedical sciences at Portsmouth university recently to find out about its teaching and research programmes…

Pharmaceutical care (7) Arthritis

Arthritis, which includes osteoarthritis, inflammatory arthritis and gout, affects about 10 per cent of the adult UK population, although estimates of prevalence are made difficult by diagnostic uncertainties.1,2,3 Osteoarthritis (OA) is most common and affects as many as 10-20 per cent of…

The year 1000: Pharmacy at the turn of the first millennium

Was pharmacy in Britain at the end of the first millennium a mixture of superstition and ignorance or was its practice both rational and beneficial to patients? This article examines the issue…