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The future role of communications in psychopharmacological research and practice
Pmg.
Neuro-Pswhophamncol.
Vo1.3,
pp.133-136,
1979.
Pergamon
Press
Ltd.
Printed
in
Great
Britain
TIEi FUTURE ROLE OF COlWMUNICATIONS IN PsYCHoPHARMA COLOGICAL RESEARCH AND PRACl’IcE E.F.B. Department
of
Psychiatry,
FORSTER
University Accra, Ghana
of
Ghana
Medical
School
Contents
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Abstract Introduction Information Present position Future role The role of the International Information on Psychotropic
133 133 133 134 134 Reference Drugs
Centre
for 135
Abstract 1.
2. 3.
Key
Communication of psychopharmacologic data is seen as a system whose structure determined by efficient information dissemination. Suggestions are made to efficiency. The author suggests ways to improve information accessibility for auxiliary personnel, medical personnel and for basic researchers. The International Reference Centre for Information on Psychotropic Drugs is with reference to a weakness in its function and corrective suggestions. words:
communications,
psychopharmacology,
research
1. The mechanism of communication and the structure of the system achieving the goal intended.
WHO reference
be the
medical discussed
centre
Introduction
implies depends
The essence of couununication about clear in language, precise in meaning back system, and.never be unidirectional.
practice,
should improve
that there on the mode
psychopharmacology and easy to
2.
is of
information transmission
in comprehend.
the
to
be that
future is It should
passed on to others will be effective
that it incorporate
should
be a feed-
Information
The sources of the information we are dealing practice in the field. Workers in this area expertise and an abundant capacity to transmit to others. The intricacies of psychological to investigate the mysteries of the mind are pounded by the study of the effects of drugs
with should their medicine imprecise. on the
in psychopharmacology are research and possess clarity of mind, sufficient information with meaningful precision are inrmense and the tools we now possess When this state of affairs is compsyche, it is clear that our task becomes
in
E.
F.
B.
Forster
more challenging and our information controversial. The effects of drugs have been known to vary in different members of the human species. The source of information on any particular drug should therefore have a very wide base, cover many grouping5 of the human species and be correlated so that a meaningful abstraction could be made of its usefulness to mankind as a whole. We would expect this information to cover various parameters of drug usage, research results and side effects, all in one package. The manner or system of collecting and storing this information will materially affect the ease of retrieval and the speed with which it could be disseminated. The interest value of the information should be kept in view at all times. A computer organization may serve this purpose admirably but when we consider that our prospective view of communication is that information should be available to a wide clientele to be useful, then the computer system would limit the achievement of our goal because it would tend to serve a very small client group. Owing to the expense involved in setting up such a system and the constraints on priority expenditure in a large part of the world today, some other system has to be found to serve our purpose: that our information would reach the general medical practitioners, post and undergraduate students in psychopharmacology, in forms suitable for easy assimilation. Efforts should also be made to reach other workers at the grass roots of mental health services. It is only by such proselytization that the gospel of psychopharmacology could hope to spread far and wide. One of the pitfalls of restricted communication information on psychopharmacological data. This the in-depth appreciation of the values of this as well as practitioners in the field.
3.
Present
is that it may lead to special branch
limits the distribution of insular inbreeding and limit of pharmacology by researchers
Position
At the present time the regular forms of couununicating information on psychopharmacology are dependent on the grade of the recipient in the study of the subject. Didactic instructions are the usual forms for undergraduate medical students and also for students of pharmacy . Research students who are usually in the post-graduate grade have a lot of practical work added to their lecture progrannnes. In addition to these forms of communication of information we have available specialized journals that deal with the subject. There are also closed shop seminars and other group meetings at which specialized information is passed on and discussed. But these kinds of communications are limiting in scope and miss out a very large number of workers who should be informed on the subject if we are to increase the number of mental health workers with a desirable working knowledge in psychopharmacology. The WHO Reference Centres Network for information on psychotropic drugs has introduced a new dimension to the communications system in its many collaborating centres in different parts of the world. This new system, too, is deficient in some ways. It does not inform on a wide spectrum of psychotropic drug activity. It limits the area of information and in some parts of the world, its impact is circumscribed because it is directed to a few workers in the mental health field. The capacity
future to
communications reach many more
system workers
envisaged in our
4.
is field
Future
one that would have than we now do.
a much
wider
base
with
Role
The aim of cormnunications in psychopharmacology in the future should be to make a strong and lasting impact on the mental health Scene and convert and retain new adherents to the fold. The aim should be a kind of crusade to enlighten all involved in medical care and the delivery of services as to the positive and negative aspects of psychopharmacology. The problem as I see it, is how could we achieve this? If it is agreed on psychopharmacological research and practice is to permeate through to graduate students, general practitioners, undergraduate medical students staff, then we have to identify suitable media via which the information
that information specialists, postand paramedical should be transmitted
a
and
also
A widely the value the place instruction in a form
the
most
agreeable
Cozzuunications
in
form
take.
it
should
based educational programme the information received the didactic approach. it should be possible to suitable for the participants. of of
International interest in participants ings due to ium Internationale established valuable to
psychopharmacology
is called for, and its practical To make assimilation utilize video-tapes.
to
135
instruct application. easier There
conferences in various parts of the world participation and attract converts, especially who may be interested in the subject may not Efforts in this direction financial constraints. Neuro-Psychopharmacologicurn (CINP) should centres and toward new medical schools. This third world countries.
in
the art of appreciating This approach conf inns at the various levels of should be seminars presented
at different when it is be able to already be extended arrangement
times would incite borne in mind that some travel distances to meettaken up by the Collegaway from well known would be particularly
Journals in psychopharmacology have a useful place in the dissemination of information. This information should be presented in such a way that its interest value would be far reaching and attract a wide reading public. Some of these publications should be in very simple language bearing in mind the grade or the expertise of the reader. This calls for a central organization to correlate and reduce the information received to various levels of comprehension before dispatching it to the various target groups in as many languages as possible. No doubt this exercise would involve a large secretariat and a high expenditure of funds. If the goal set is achieved by these means then the expenditure would have been worthwhile.
5.
The
Role
of the Information
International Reference of Psychotropic Drugs
Centre
for
The need for a central body to coordinate the work on the study of psychopharmacological research and practice has been felt for some time. This feeling no doubt prompted the World Health Organisation to create the Reference Centre Network for Information on Psychotropic drugs with its twenty-five collaborating reference centres in many parts of the world. The functions of this Network in the area of communication are dealt with more thoroughly by other My intention in referring to it at all is to highlight the shortwriters on this theme. comings of the present operational format and to offer some modest suggestions for its more comprehensive usefulness. It is unfortunate that this area of psychopharmacological research and practice has been separated into two groups without an apparent and functioning link between them. The division which merely notifies of drug areas under active research seems to function quite apart from the other division which deals with the side effects of these drugs. Our future communications should therefore endeavour to relate these two important functions in such a way that one is simultaneously informed not only of drugs under experimentation or research, but also of the possible side effects and dangers inherent in their use. The general theme of this paper has tried-to stress the wide range of classes of workers in the field of mental health, who in my opinion should have access to these several pieces of information. For this purpose it should be considered mandatory that in the future the central body of WHO under whose auspices this novel approach to psychotropic drug study has been undertaken, should have a single correlation of all relevant information on the subject, for dissemination down the pyramidal hierarchy. The present compartmentalization limits effective utilization of all the valuable information being gathered from research and practice in this field. The world body should reappraise the structures it has created to deal and see whether it could not be feasible to marry into one nuptial bliss, waiting for a respected father figure to bring them together. The children ful union would have a sound infrastructure on which to erect a superstructure a credit to all associated with it.
with this problem lovers who are just of such a powerthat would be
This is my view of the future role of communications in the field of psychopharmacological Because nothing is static, provisions should be made for changes in research and practice. the system. These will be dictated by the growth of the prograzzne and the changes in the
136
E.
circumstances Inquiries Dr. E.F.B. Department University P.O. Box
of and
mankind
reprint
for requests
Forster of Psychiatry of Ghana Medical 4236, Accra, Ghana
whose should
School
welfare be
F.
B.
this addressed
Forster
exercise to:
is
all
about.
Neuro-Pswhophamncol.
Vo1.3,
pp.133-136,
1979.
Pergamon
Press
Ltd.
Printed
in
Great
Britain
TIEi FUTURE ROLE OF COlWMUNICATIONS IN PsYCHoPHARMA COLOGICAL RESEARCH AND PRACl’IcE E.F.B. Department
of
Psychiatry,
FORSTER
University Accra, Ghana
of
Ghana
Medical
School
Contents
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Abstract Introduction Information Present position Future role The role of the International Information on Psychotropic
133 133 133 134 134 Reference Drugs
Centre
for 135
Abstract 1.
2. 3.
Key
Communication of psychopharmacologic data is seen as a system whose structure determined by efficient information dissemination. Suggestions are made to efficiency. The author suggests ways to improve information accessibility for auxiliary personnel, medical personnel and for basic researchers. The International Reference Centre for Information on Psychotropic Drugs is with reference to a weakness in its function and corrective suggestions. words:
communications,
psychopharmacology,
research
1. The mechanism of communication and the structure of the system achieving the goal intended.
WHO reference
be the
medical discussed
centre
Introduction
implies depends
The essence of couununication about clear in language, precise in meaning back system, and.never be unidirectional.
practice,
should improve
that there on the mode
psychopharmacology and easy to
2.
is of
information transmission
in comprehend.
the
to
be that
future is It should
passed on to others will be effective
that it incorporate
should
be a feed-
Information
The sources of the information we are dealing practice in the field. Workers in this area expertise and an abundant capacity to transmit to others. The intricacies of psychological to investigate the mysteries of the mind are pounded by the study of the effects of drugs
with should their medicine imprecise. on the
in psychopharmacology are research and possess clarity of mind, sufficient information with meaningful precision are inrmense and the tools we now possess When this state of affairs is compsyche, it is clear that our task becomes
in
E.
F.
B.
Forster
more challenging and our information controversial. The effects of drugs have been known to vary in different members of the human species. The source of information on any particular drug should therefore have a very wide base, cover many grouping5 of the human species and be correlated so that a meaningful abstraction could be made of its usefulness to mankind as a whole. We would expect this information to cover various parameters of drug usage, research results and side effects, all in one package. The manner or system of collecting and storing this information will materially affect the ease of retrieval and the speed with which it could be disseminated. The interest value of the information should be kept in view at all times. A computer organization may serve this purpose admirably but when we consider that our prospective view of communication is that information should be available to a wide clientele to be useful, then the computer system would limit the achievement of our goal because it would tend to serve a very small client group. Owing to the expense involved in setting up such a system and the constraints on priority expenditure in a large part of the world today, some other system has to be found to serve our purpose: that our information would reach the general medical practitioners, post and undergraduate students in psychopharmacology, in forms suitable for easy assimilation. Efforts should also be made to reach other workers at the grass roots of mental health services. It is only by such proselytization that the gospel of psychopharmacology could hope to spread far and wide. One of the pitfalls of restricted communication information on psychopharmacological data. This the in-depth appreciation of the values of this as well as practitioners in the field.
3.
Present
is that it may lead to special branch
limits the distribution of insular inbreeding and limit of pharmacology by researchers
Position
At the present time the regular forms of couununicating information on psychopharmacology are dependent on the grade of the recipient in the study of the subject. Didactic instructions are the usual forms for undergraduate medical students and also for students of pharmacy . Research students who are usually in the post-graduate grade have a lot of practical work added to their lecture progrannnes. In addition to these forms of communication of information we have available specialized journals that deal with the subject. There are also closed shop seminars and other group meetings at which specialized information is passed on and discussed. But these kinds of communications are limiting in scope and miss out a very large number of workers who should be informed on the subject if we are to increase the number of mental health workers with a desirable working knowledge in psychopharmacology. The WHO Reference Centres Network for information on psychotropic drugs has introduced a new dimension to the communications system in its many collaborating centres in different parts of the world. This new system, too, is deficient in some ways. It does not inform on a wide spectrum of psychotropic drug activity. It limits the area of information and in some parts of the world, its impact is circumscribed because it is directed to a few workers in the mental health field. The capacity
future to
communications reach many more
system workers
envisaged in our
4.
is field
Future
one that would have than we now do.
a much
wider
base
with
Role
The aim of cormnunications in psychopharmacology in the future should be to make a strong and lasting impact on the mental health Scene and convert and retain new adherents to the fold. The aim should be a kind of crusade to enlighten all involved in medical care and the delivery of services as to the positive and negative aspects of psychopharmacology. The problem as I see it, is how could we achieve this? If it is agreed on psychopharmacological research and practice is to permeate through to graduate students, general practitioners, undergraduate medical students staff, then we have to identify suitable media via which the information
that information specialists, postand paramedical should be transmitted
a
and
also
A widely the value the place instruction in a form
the
most
agreeable
Cozzuunications
in
form
take.
it
should
based educational programme the information received the didactic approach. it should be possible to suitable for the participants. of of
International interest in participants ings due to ium Internationale established valuable to
psychopharmacology
is called for, and its practical To make assimilation utilize video-tapes.
to
135
instruct application. easier There
conferences in various parts of the world participation and attract converts, especially who may be interested in the subject may not Efforts in this direction financial constraints. Neuro-Psychopharmacologicurn (CINP) should centres and toward new medical schools. This third world countries.
in
the art of appreciating This approach conf inns at the various levels of should be seminars presented
at different when it is be able to already be extended arrangement
times would incite borne in mind that some travel distances to meettaken up by the Collegaway from well known would be particularly
Journals in psychopharmacology have a useful place in the dissemination of information. This information should be presented in such a way that its interest value would be far reaching and attract a wide reading public. Some of these publications should be in very simple language bearing in mind the grade or the expertise of the reader. This calls for a central organization to correlate and reduce the information received to various levels of comprehension before dispatching it to the various target groups in as many languages as possible. No doubt this exercise would involve a large secretariat and a high expenditure of funds. If the goal set is achieved by these means then the expenditure would have been worthwhile.
5.
The
Role
of the Information
International Reference of Psychotropic Drugs
Centre
for
The need for a central body to coordinate the work on the study of psychopharmacological research and practice has been felt for some time. This feeling no doubt prompted the World Health Organisation to create the Reference Centre Network for Information on Psychotropic drugs with its twenty-five collaborating reference centres in many parts of the world. The functions of this Network in the area of communication are dealt with more thoroughly by other My intention in referring to it at all is to highlight the shortwriters on this theme. comings of the present operational format and to offer some modest suggestions for its more comprehensive usefulness. It is unfortunate that this area of psychopharmacological research and practice has been separated into two groups without an apparent and functioning link between them. The division which merely notifies of drug areas under active research seems to function quite apart from the other division which deals with the side effects of these drugs. Our future communications should therefore endeavour to relate these two important functions in such a way that one is simultaneously informed not only of drugs under experimentation or research, but also of the possible side effects and dangers inherent in their use. The general theme of this paper has tried-to stress the wide range of classes of workers in the field of mental health, who in my opinion should have access to these several pieces of information. For this purpose it should be considered mandatory that in the future the central body of WHO under whose auspices this novel approach to psychotropic drug study has been undertaken, should have a single correlation of all relevant information on the subject, for dissemination down the pyramidal hierarchy. The present compartmentalization limits effective utilization of all the valuable information being gathered from research and practice in this field. The world body should reappraise the structures it has created to deal and see whether it could not be feasible to marry into one nuptial bliss, waiting for a respected father figure to bring them together. The children ful union would have a sound infrastructure on which to erect a superstructure a credit to all associated with it.
with this problem lovers who are just of such a powerthat would be
This is my view of the future role of communications in the field of psychopharmacological Because nothing is static, provisions should be made for changes in research and practice. the system. These will be dictated by the growth of the prograzzne and the changes in the
136
E.
circumstances Inquiries Dr. E.F.B. Department University P.O. Box
of and
mankind
reprint
for requests
Forster of Psychiatry of Ghana Medical 4236, Accra, Ghana
whose should
School
welfare be
F.
B.
this addressed
Forster
exercise to:
is
all
about.