The ICPC coding system in pharmacy:developing a subset, ICPC-Ph

The ICPC system is a coding system developed for general medical practice, to be able to code the GP-patient encounters and other actions. Some of the codes can be easily used by community pharmacists to code complaints and diseases in pharmaceutical care practice. We developed a subset of the ICPC codes for community pharmacists. This article describes the method used and the resulting ICPC-Ph list

APOM-project: a survey of pharmacy organization and management

In 1994, a Ph.D-study started regarding pharmacy, organization and management (APOM) in the Netherlands. The APOM-project deals with the structuring and steering of pharmacy organization. This article describes the summary of the empirical results of a survey in a relatively I ge sample (n = 169). Generalization to the population of pharmacies in the Netherlands was made. Thought results comprised a total number of seven clusters of priorities of pharmacy mixes. Most pharmacy managers were observed with product and customer activities in the first position; pharmaceutical and customer activities were perceived as the most important. Action results comprised a total number of five clusters of activities of pharmacy mixes. Most pharmacy managers were observed with product and process activities in the first position; pharmaceutical and process activities were performed most frequently. The results showed that the traditional conception of the work in the community pharmacy is still vividly present

JOURNALISTS AND THEIR SOURCES OF IDEAS AND INFORMATION ON MEDICINES

In this article we describe from which sources science writers who write about medicines in daily newspapers get their ideas and information. This study was undertaken because mass media, and therefore newspapers, can play an important role in the diffusion of information about medicines. Two approaches, interviews and a content analysis, were used to answer the research questions. Both methods show the importance of professional medical journals and information from universities and their hospitals as sources of ideas and information. Although the pharmaceutical industry did not seem to play a role as source of ideas and information according to the journalists, it is the third most frequently cited source of information in the newspaper articles. To gain a better insight in the role of the pharmaceutical industry as source of ideas and information for newspaper journalists further research is necessary