- Email: [email protected]
UK Drug Utilisation Research Group is Born
113 what stuff the emperor’s clothes are made of’. He was a master of the short form, illuminating the most diverse topics, which ranged from the social and religious life of Eskimos to the use of psychiatry for incarceration of political prisoners in 18th century France, with
anthropological, social, and psychological insights. He never ceased to emphasise the need for studying the history of medicine for its sobering effect, as it shows how the medical systems in the past delivered what was required of them to everyone’s satisfaction, and how the truths of today became the errors of tomorrow; "for many members of the medical profession have at all times displayed a queer mixture of unreasonable conservatism and no more reasonable addiction to the latest novelties". In his robust rationalism and dedication to scholarship he lashed academic philistinism and opportunism of all kinds, and his writings are a
Conference UK Drug Utilisation Research
Group is Born
DATA on the utilisation of drugs can be used for many different purposes: to describe patterns of drug use in different settings and over time; to make estimates of the numbers of people exposed to drugs; to measure effects of efforts to educate and inform professionals and patients and of regulatory activities and price policies; to define areas for further study of the efficacy and safety of drug therapy; to indicate overuse, underuse, and inappropriate use of drugs; to estimate drug needs in a society in relation to morbidity patterns, and so help in the planning of drug selection, supply, and distribution. Because these uses involve anthropology, clinical many disciplines-including
pharmacology, community medicine, drug regulation, epidemiology, general practice, health economics, information technology, medical sociology, pharmacy, and statistics-drug utilisation research (DUR) is rarely discussed in the existing professional and scientific societies. There has been only one forum for discussion of this work, the World Health Organisation Drug Utilisation Research Group (DURG), coordinated for almost 20 years by the WHO European office in Copenhagen,l which works closely with the WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology in Os10.2 DUR is now expanding in the UK, and at a meeting at the London School of Hygiene on Dec 21, attended by almost 100 people, the UK Drug Utilisation Research Group was inaugurated. The meeting was planned to illustrate the diversity of DUR going on in the UK. The first half was chaired by Prof Owen Wade, one of the founders of the WHO DURG. Dr Maurice Cuthbert introduced the meeting by saying that the Department of Health very much welcomed DUR, although it had not instigated such research. Inga Lunde (WHO, Copenhagen) briefly reviewed international DUR methods, emphasising that DUR was not as pedestrian and elementary as it might seem at first sight. Analysis of the medical, social, and economic consequences of the marketing and use of drugs required skilled and imaginative
multidisciplinary approaches.
precious antidote to the swelling tide of unreason. Not surprisingly, he was the first to point out the folly of acupuncture reintroduced in
the West after Nixon’s visit to Maoist China. He hated crooks, obscurantists, and useful idiots, as he called them, whether within or without the medical profession; and he observed with dismay the artless world spinning towards the millenium of Health for All, exchanging literacy for pictography on the way. What a pity that, despite the urgings of his friends, he did not write the memoirs of his more-than-one life. He refused, saying that it would be a sign of senility; but perhaps he did not want to hurt others by being too frank. He would hate empty, polite accolades, which he referred to as Judas’ kisses. The best way to honour his memory is to keep alight the torch of learning which he tended so faithfully. P. S. n C’
(Prescribing Analyses and Cost) system and the information it can give individual general practitioners about their prescribing. GPs have now begun to receive regular information from PACT and can choose whether to have it in outline or in varying levels of detail for self-audit. Brian Riley (Mersey RHA) spoke about drug-use information from hospitals, and summarised what was being done to standardise and make it possible to interrelate data obtained from different sources for differing purposes-for example, purchasing and stock control, and clinical budgeting, and audit. Ann Cartwright (Institute for Social Studies of Medical Care, London) presented a selection of findings from a large community survey of drug use in the elderly,33 demonstrating that patients themselves have essential facts as well as penetrating observations to contribute-which are needed to correct and complement those obtained from
professionals. The second half of the meeting, chaired by Dr Andrew Herxheimer, discussed the monitoring of efforts to promote rational prescribing. Jim Smith (Newcastle) reported how the Northern Region drug newsletter had appeared to influence prescribing in the region. Dr Phillip Reilly (Belfast), Phillip Green, and Clare Dutton (Runcorn) summarised their experience with the development of formularies in general practice. It was most effective when doctors themselves were involved and could justly feel that the formulary was theirs. The process of working it out seemed to be at least as important as the end result. Something similar appeared to be happening in the functioning of the hospital formulary management system described by John Baker (Westminster Hospital)." Finally, Prof Denis McDevitt (Dundee) described a record linkage scheme, the MEMO project in Tayside, which was being used to study the morbidity and mortality associated with the use of particular drugs. At the end of the afternoon those present agreed to adopt
interim constitution for the UK DURG and elected an interim chairman (Prof McDevitt), secretary, and committee. Information about the group can be had from the Secretary, Kathryn Griffiths, Drug and Therapeutics Unit, Wolfson Building, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham B15 2TH. an
The contributions that followed showed the wide range of DUR going on in the UK. Elaine Kennedy, from the Information Technology Centre of the Prescription Pricing
Authority
in
Newcastle, described the
new
PACT
2. PO Box
100, Veitvet, Oslo 5, Norway. Cartwright A, Smith C. Elderly people, their medicines and their doctors. London, New York: Routledge 1988. 4. Baker JA, Lant AF, Sutters CA. Seventeen years’ experience of a voluntarily based drug rationalisation programme in hospital. Br Med J 1988; 297: 465-69. 3.
1 Pharmaceuticals Unit, WHO EURO, Scherfigsvej 8, DK-2100
Copenhagen Ø
anthropological, social, and psychological insights. He never ceased to emphasise the need for studying the history of medicine for its sobering effect, as it shows how the medical systems in the past delivered what was required of them to everyone’s satisfaction, and how the truths of today became the errors of tomorrow; "for many members of the medical profession have at all times displayed a queer mixture of unreasonable conservatism and no more reasonable addiction to the latest novelties". In his robust rationalism and dedication to scholarship he lashed academic philistinism and opportunism of all kinds, and his writings are a
Conference UK Drug Utilisation Research
Group is Born
DATA on the utilisation of drugs can be used for many different purposes: to describe patterns of drug use in different settings and over time; to make estimates of the numbers of people exposed to drugs; to measure effects of efforts to educate and inform professionals and patients and of regulatory activities and price policies; to define areas for further study of the efficacy and safety of drug therapy; to indicate overuse, underuse, and inappropriate use of drugs; to estimate drug needs in a society in relation to morbidity patterns, and so help in the planning of drug selection, supply, and distribution. Because these uses involve anthropology, clinical many disciplines-including
pharmacology, community medicine, drug regulation, epidemiology, general practice, health economics, information technology, medical sociology, pharmacy, and statistics-drug utilisation research (DUR) is rarely discussed in the existing professional and scientific societies. There has been only one forum for discussion of this work, the World Health Organisation Drug Utilisation Research Group (DURG), coordinated for almost 20 years by the WHO European office in Copenhagen,l which works closely with the WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology in Os10.2 DUR is now expanding in the UK, and at a meeting at the London School of Hygiene on Dec 21, attended by almost 100 people, the UK Drug Utilisation Research Group was inaugurated. The meeting was planned to illustrate the diversity of DUR going on in the UK. The first half was chaired by Prof Owen Wade, one of the founders of the WHO DURG. Dr Maurice Cuthbert introduced the meeting by saying that the Department of Health very much welcomed DUR, although it had not instigated such research. Inga Lunde (WHO, Copenhagen) briefly reviewed international DUR methods, emphasising that DUR was not as pedestrian and elementary as it might seem at first sight. Analysis of the medical, social, and economic consequences of the marketing and use of drugs required skilled and imaginative
multidisciplinary approaches.
precious antidote to the swelling tide of unreason. Not surprisingly, he was the first to point out the folly of acupuncture reintroduced in
the West after Nixon’s visit to Maoist China. He hated crooks, obscurantists, and useful idiots, as he called them, whether within or without the medical profession; and he observed with dismay the artless world spinning towards the millenium of Health for All, exchanging literacy for pictography on the way. What a pity that, despite the urgings of his friends, he did not write the memoirs of his more-than-one life. He refused, saying that it would be a sign of senility; but perhaps he did not want to hurt others by being too frank. He would hate empty, polite accolades, which he referred to as Judas’ kisses. The best way to honour his memory is to keep alight the torch of learning which he tended so faithfully. P. S. n C’
(Prescribing Analyses and Cost) system and the information it can give individual general practitioners about their prescribing. GPs have now begun to receive regular information from PACT and can choose whether to have it in outline or in varying levels of detail for self-audit. Brian Riley (Mersey RHA) spoke about drug-use information from hospitals, and summarised what was being done to standardise and make it possible to interrelate data obtained from different sources for differing purposes-for example, purchasing and stock control, and clinical budgeting, and audit. Ann Cartwright (Institute for Social Studies of Medical Care, London) presented a selection of findings from a large community survey of drug use in the elderly,33 demonstrating that patients themselves have essential facts as well as penetrating observations to contribute-which are needed to correct and complement those obtained from
professionals. The second half of the meeting, chaired by Dr Andrew Herxheimer, discussed the monitoring of efforts to promote rational prescribing. Jim Smith (Newcastle) reported how the Northern Region drug newsletter had appeared to influence prescribing in the region. Dr Phillip Reilly (Belfast), Phillip Green, and Clare Dutton (Runcorn) summarised their experience with the development of formularies in general practice. It was most effective when doctors themselves were involved and could justly feel that the formulary was theirs. The process of working it out seemed to be at least as important as the end result. Something similar appeared to be happening in the functioning of the hospital formulary management system described by John Baker (Westminster Hospital)." Finally, Prof Denis McDevitt (Dundee) described a record linkage scheme, the MEMO project in Tayside, which was being used to study the morbidity and mortality associated with the use of particular drugs. At the end of the afternoon those present agreed to adopt
interim constitution for the UK DURG and elected an interim chairman (Prof McDevitt), secretary, and committee. Information about the group can be had from the Secretary, Kathryn Griffiths, Drug and Therapeutics Unit, Wolfson Building, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham B15 2TH. an
The contributions that followed showed the wide range of DUR going on in the UK. Elaine Kennedy, from the Information Technology Centre of the Prescription Pricing
Authority
in
Newcastle, described the
new
PACT
2. PO Box
100, Veitvet, Oslo 5, Norway. Cartwright A, Smith C. Elderly people, their medicines and their doctors. London, New York: Routledge 1988. 4. Baker JA, Lant AF, Sutters CA. Seventeen years’ experience of a voluntarily based drug rationalisation programme in hospital. Br Med J 1988; 297: 465-69. 3.
1 Pharmaceuticals Unit, WHO EURO, Scherfigsvej 8, DK-2100
Copenhagen Ø