Twenty-five years is an important milestone in the life of this organisation and our 2014 conference did not disappoint in terms of maintaining the high quality of our invited speakers and the submitted abstracts.
We were treated to three excellent presentations in the morning starting with Dr Simon Hurding from NHS Lothian, who described work over the last few years seeking to improve the quality of prescribing. A major issue which Simon raised is the impact of the Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF) in general practices, which appears to have resulted in substantial increases in prescribing of certain drug groups, yet no corresponding reduction in deaths from cardiovascular disease or hospital admissions. He described the development of the national prescribing programme in Scotland and prescribing indicators, which were used to compare every practice in the country. The lack of clinical commissioning in Scotland enabled the retention of a medicines management section within the QOF.
Prof Neal Maskrey blew us all away with his explanation, using very practical examples, of the psychology of decision-making, obviously highly relevant to prescribing decisions. He sought to remind us that the original purpose of evidence-based practice (EBP) was to be applied to individual patients. He introduced us to the word satisficing (apparently coined in 1956), which everyone acknowledged they did practice and the Dual Process theory of type 1 (fast) or type 2 (slow, requiring learning) decision-making, which we also recognised in ourselves.
Prof Ann Jacklin told us a story about electronic prescribing and explained, with many personal experiences, why England is in its current position in relation to this, which is that partial e-prescribing systems are in place in around 70% of hospital Trusts responding to a survey. This is despite guidance requiring all Trusts to have these in place by 2005. We came away with a very clear appreciation of why this innovation, which may appear simple due to widespread use in primary care, cannot be easily transferred into the secondary care setting. We also learned that while some errors may be fixed by electronic prescribing, others may be created!
AGM Highlights
Prof Colin Bradley announced the winner of the Hugh McGavock bursary, as Mr Richard Keers, from Manchester University, for his work on prescribing errors in mental health hospitals. Richard received a cheque for £200 and was invited to return next year to describe his further work using the funds.
Ms Bernadette Flood returned to the 25th meeting having won the Hugh McGavock bursary last year and updated us on her work on medicines management in people with learning disabilities. She gave a short presentation which graphically illustrated the difficulties faced by this group of people, and how health professionals can and should help.
There are some changes to committee members:
- Prof Bradley is stepping down as Chair, to be replaced by Dr Rachel Howard.
- Prof Janet Krska is taking over from Prof Steve Chapman as Honorary secretary, due to the change in administration of the organisation from Keele University to Medway School of Pharmacy. Prof Krska is also the committee’s representative on the EuroDURG committee.
DUR handbook: Several of the committee members are involved in the writing and/or editing of a substantial book, which is being produced to replace the 1st edition of the Drug Utilisation Research Handbook, produced by the organisation in 2000, edited by Prof Hugh McGavock. The committee has joined together with EuroDURG to develop this book, which should be available late 2014. Prof Bradley announced that the first 30 registrants for next year’s conference would receive a free copy of this book, and that a launch event would form part of the conference.
Next year, the 26th Annual Scientific Meeting will be on Friday January 23rd at the Imperial Hotel once more. The theme will be ‘One for All and All for One – different perspectives on medicines Optimisation’
The best poster was awarded after the poster walk, to Dr Nde-Eshimuni Salema from Nottingham University for her work on patients’ views of the New Medicines Service. She received a cheque for £50.00.
Best Poster
Submitted abstracts
The afternoon session included a poster walk, which enabled all presenters to give everyone a flavour of the work they had carried out, and five oral presentations. All abstracts will be published in Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, later this year.