This new edition of Ann Bowling's well-known and highly respected text has been thoroughly revised and updated to reflect key methodological developments in health research. It is a comprehensive, easy to read, guide to the range of methods used to study and evaluate health and health services. It describes the concepts and methods used by the main disciplines involved in health research, including: demography, epidemiology, health economics, psychology and sociology.The research methods described cover the assessment of health needs, morbidity and mortality trends and rates, costing health services, sampling for survey research, cross-sectional and longitudinal survey design, experimental methods and techniques of group assignment, questionnaire design, interviewing techniques, coding and analysis of quantitative data, methods and analysis of qualitative observational studies, and types of unstructured interviewing. With new material on topics such as cluster randomization, utility analyses, patients' preferences, and perception of risk, the text is aimed at students and researchers of health and health services. It has also been designed for health professionals and policy makers who have responsibility for applying research findings in practice, and who need to know how to judge the value of that research.

Research Methods in Health. Investigating health and health services

This study, which is a part of the initiative 'Lifting The Burden: The Global Campaign to Reduce the Burden of Headache Worldwide', assesses and presents all existing evidence of the world prevalence and burden of headache disorders. Population-based studies applying International Headache Society criteria for migraine and tension-type headache, and also studies on headache in general and 'chronic daily headache', have been included. Globally, the percentages of the adult population with an active headache disorder are 46% for headache in general, 11% for migraine, 42% for tension-type headache and 3% for chronic daily headache. Our calculations indicate that the disability attributable to tension-type headache is larger worldwide than that due to migraine. On the World Health Organization's ranking of causes of disability, this would bring headache disorders into the 10 most disabling conditions for the two genders, and into the five most disabling for women.

https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1468-2982.2007.01288.x

The Global Burden of Headache: A Documentation of Headache Prevalence and Disability Worldwide:

Insomnia as a predictor of depression: A meta-analytic evaluation of longitudinal epidemiological studies.

4 CLINICAL PARTICULARS 4.1 Therapeutic Indications Trimetazidine is indicated in adults as add-on therapy for the symptomatic treatment of patients with stable angina pectoris who are inadequately controlled by or intolerant to first-line antianginal therapies. 4.2 Posology and method of administration Oral administration. Posology The dose is one tablet of 35mg of trimetazidine twice daily during meals. Special populations Renal impairment In patients with moderate renal impairment (creatinine clearance [30-60] ml/min) (see sections 4.4 and 5.2), the recommended dose is 1 tablet of 35mg in the morning during breakfast. Elderly Elderly patients may have increased trimetazidine exposure due to age-related decrease in renal function (see section 5.2). In patients with moderate renal impairment (creatinine clearance [30-60] ml/min), the recommended dose is 1 tablet of 35mg in the morning during breakfast. Dose titration in elderly patients should be exercised with caution (see section 4.4). Health Products Regulatory Authority

Summary of product characteristics

QUITE apart from the academic consideration that vital and medical statistics now form an obligatory part of the education of students seeking the University of London's diploma in public health, the demand for information about the methods of vital and medical statistics is increasing. The most casual reader of the newspapers is now aware that population problems are of serious practical importance and that the publications of the General Register Office cannot be ignored. It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that the recently issued preliminary report on the census of 1931 is one of the most sensational documents which has appeared for years, and that he who reads it intelligently will understand what is meant by saying that civilisation is in the melting pot. An Introduction to Medical Statistics. By Hilda M. Woods William T. Russell. Pp. x + 125. (London: P. S. King and Son, Ltd., 1931.) 7s. 6d.

/pdf/an-introduction-to-medical-statistics-58gm2cuxfv.pdf

An Introduction to Medical Statistics

Higher medical training in pharmaceutical medicine : Delphi exercise on healthcare marketplace advanced module

Little is known about the interactions between pharmacy staff and parents/carers who buy nonprescription medicines for children. Responsibility for choice and administration of children’s medicines falls to the parent/carer. Pharmacy advice should support safe and effective use of medicines for children. This paper explores the interactions between pharmacy staff and purchasers of children’s medicines, in terms of questioning and advice giving. Thirty-nine community pharmacies across four Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) in England. A self-completion survey and a subset of semi-structured telephone interviews were undertaken with parents/carers buying oral medicines for children aged 0–4 years. Frequency and type of questioning and advice given by pharmacy staff to parents purchasing nonprescription medicines. One hundred and thirty-four surveys and thirty-four interviews were completed: most participants were 25–44 year-old women. The majority (85%) reported being questioned, most often by medicines counter assistants, to establish the safety and suitability of the medicine. Three key questions (whether the medicine had been used before, the age of the child, and concurrent medicines), however, were not always asked. Interviews revealed self-perceptions of ‘expert’ and ‘novice’ users, depending on experience with the medicine purchased. This seemed to affect their perception of their need for questioning and advice from pharmacy staff. Interactions in the pharmacy involving the purchase of medicines for young children are varied with regard to questioning and advice given. This study has found that key questions are not always asked before a medicine is sold, and advice about using the medicine was given in just over one-third of encounters. Parents/carers also identified a range of additional information they would like to have received with their medicine: there was, however, no clear pattern to the type of information they would like. Parents reflected on the questioning and advice in terms of their self-perception of expertise with the medicine. Both pharmacists and their assistants should adopt a flexible questioning approach based on parents/carers’ advice and information needs that respects expertise, but does not assume it.

Interactions between parents/carers of pre-school children and pharmacy staff when buying non-prescription medicines

Objective: To design an integrated dyspepsia module for first year pharmacy undergraduates, which combines clinical and professional practice with fundamental sciences, in five different science subject areas, as a prototype for future disease- or system-based integrated modules.
Methods: The approaches used in designing this module are described with particular emphases on strategies adopted to integrate science and practice, and the new ways of working adopted by the design team. Students’ views and experiences of the module, and its integration, were explored using questionnaires.
Results: A high proportion of students reported positive views and experiences of the module, the integration and its impact (as self-reported) on their learning and practice. The assessment of student performance indicated learning and attainment was at an appropriate level for a first year module. Both the student marks and research results indicate a positive student learning experience. The main activities undertaken whilst designing and developing the module, and the personnel involved are presented, and provide an indication of the staff time and resourcing required in developing this module.
Conclusions: The dyspepsia module provides a flexible and effective template for the integration of science and practice in theme-based modules, with students reporting positively about the integration, including their perception of its contribution to improving their learning and understanding. Our experience suggests that new more collaborative ways of working are required when designing integrated modules.

/pdf/an-integrated-dyspepsia-module-for-first-year-pharmacy-4bn5oc1pe7.pdf

An Integrated Dyspepsia Module for First-year Pharmacy Students.

In a study to quantify the extent of current and planned employment of primary care pharmacists (PCPs) and to explore the experiences of PCPs and the perceptions of other pharmacists who aspire to become PCPs, it was found that the satisfaction experienced by primary care pharmacists appears to offset to some extent the dissatisfaction expressed about traditional pharmacy work in community pharmacy. The high level of interest in PCP work may also be a proxy for pharmacists' dissatisfaction.

A pharmacy workforce survey in the West Midlands: 3 primary care pharmacists

A Delphi exercise was undertaken to develop the curriculum in pharmaceutical medicine necessary for each advanced training module that will lead to the award of a Certificate of Completion of Specialist Medical Training. The Delphi exercise used a panel for each module to identify the range of competencies and define the knowledge and skills required to fulfil the professional roles and responsibilities of a pharmaceutical physician. For the clinical development module, 52% (16/31) of Delphi correspondents identified responded in the first phase and 63% (10/16) went on to complete the second phase. Statements were weighted using mean scores achieved to allow the Faculty to assess relative merits for each independent statement. The highest weighted competency statements for the clinical development module related to therapy area review. The lowest weighted competency statements concerned conduct of the study, and interpretation of results and clinical studies. The first phase of the Delphi exercise for each module contained a course delivery and assessment section which was completed by 127 (67%) of the 190 Delphi correspondents identified. The results show that respondents consider the course should comprise a variety of training methods with clear objectives and a structured approach to guided self-learning. Assessment should use a mix of question types with continuous assessment a significant part of that. The importance of good communication for students was stressed with contact with tutors and contemporaries and personalised feedback from assessments.

Helen F. Boardman

Papers

Higher medical training in pharmaceutical medicine : Delphi exercise on healthcare marketplace advanced module

Interactions between parents/carers of pre-school children and pharmacy staff when buying non-prescription medicines

An Integrated Dyspepsia Module for First-year Pharmacy Students.

A pharmacy workforce survey in the West Midlands: 3 primary care pharmacists

Higher medical training in pharmaceutical medicine: Delphi exercise on clinical development advanced module and course delivery and assessment