Evidence-based medicine

2014: The Pharmaceutical Journal’s news in review

Looking back at some of the biggest news stories from the past year. …

Pharmacy-led statin support service in general practice helps patients reach cholesterol targets

Using pharmacists to support statin-prescribing in general practice improves patients’ chances of reaching their cholesterol targets and has a lasting effect on the prescribing behaviour of GPs.…

An anthology of fun fights about science

‘I think you’ll find it’s a bit more complicated than that’ is a compilation of Ben Goldacre’s work from over the past 20 years.…

Assessing health advice

‘Smart health choices: making sense of health advice’ by Les Irwig, Judy Irwig, Lyndal Trevena & Melissa Sweet.…

What we need is public health education, not finger pointing

Although I do not disagree with Anthony Cox’s views on selling only evidence-based over-the-counter (OTC) medicines (The Pharmaceutical Journal 2014;293:176), his views are those of an academic working in a university and not from a pharmacist standing at a medical counter facing a sales …

Evidence base does not always work in retail environment

I read with interest Anthony Cox’s piece on evidence-based medicine (EBM) in over-the-counter (OTC) products (The Pharmaceutical Journal 2014;293:176). As a community pharmacist with a strong support for EBM, I enjoyed the enthusiasm and desire to strive for this approach with OTC product…