apoteksudvikling.dk

1. Development of an Internet Forum for Community Pharmacy Projects Extract from the manuscript guide lines of articles for the data base www.apoteksudvikling.dk All kinds of projects within the field of pharmacy practice can be communicated and promoted through the project data base, e.g. projects of implementation, process descriptions, quality rating, comprehensive studies performed by several pharmacies as well as projects of scientific research. The guidelines function by filling in each of the listed points. The summary has to be limited to 350 words and the description of the project to 3500 words, and there is the limit of four figures/illustrations and/or tables. The following is a brief illustration of the contents of an article. Title Survey questions Development of an Internet Forum for Community Pharmacy Projects • Who has taken interest in responding to the questionnaire survey? • How do our respondents estimate the article guidelines? • How do our respondents estimate the present framework of the data base? • What is the attitude of our respondents when it comes to the financing of the data base? Authors Helene Agerholm. M.Sc.Pharm, MDM. Association of Danish Pharmacies. Denmark Liselotte Petersen. M.Sc.Pharm. Smallegades Apotek. Frederiksberg. Denmark. Corresponding e-mail: kontakt@apoteksudvikling.dk Summary of our study of literature At present surveys of pharmacy practices are published in the following places: Farmaci (1), International Scientific Journals (2), and Pharmakon (3) which publishes its own surveys. The article guidelines is made with inspiration from different article guidelines (4,5) and project guidelines (6,7). Project term March 2008 – August 2008 Key words Community pharmacy, internet forum, data base, communication and promotion, projects, pharmacy practice. Background information about the place of the project Abstract In Denmark there are 253 pharmacies. In addition to these, there are three institutions dealing with projects and development within pharmacy practice: The Danish University of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The Association of Danish Pharmacies and Pharmakon. Object: The aim is to get a picture of the future users of the data base and its framework, as well as to estimate the form and the contents of the articles. Methods: The data has been collected through questionnaires at the home page www.apoteksudvikling.dk. Results: The collection of data has taken place during a period of four weeks in the summer of 2008. 36 people have taken part in the survey. 50% of the respondents have read the article guidelines. In general the respondents take an interest in the article data base and the feedback on the guidelines is positive. Conclusion: One alteration of the article guidelines has been made after the survey; this is the point of evaluation. Our survey indicates that the establishment of the data base is generally supported. Data collection For our survey we have used a questionnaire consisting of 21 questions with tick off spaces as well as spaces for elaborating comments. The questionnaire has been filled in directly from the home page and the respondents are thereby anonymous. The bases of our data Our survey has been announced in the weekly newsletter of pharmacists published by the Association of Danish Pharmacies. Furthermore, anyone interested at The Danish University of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmakon has been encouraged to take part in the survey. The period of the survey lasted for four weeks. 200 persons have visited the home page and 36 responses have been received. Introduction At the Danish Community Pharmacies many projects are worked with but the results of these projects are rarely published. This provides the back-ground for our desire to establish a data base of articles communicating and promoting projects of community pharmacy. Implementation of the project The survey was made during the following period: 28.07.08 – 22.08.08. The questionnaire was represented as a link at the home page www.apoteksudvikling.dk. In addition to this the article guidelines was represented as a link. Aim of the study Our aim is to form a picture of the future users of the data base and its framework as well as to estimate the form and the contents of the articles. www.apoteksudvikling.dk Data analysis Target group The 36 responses was entered in a table and counted. People working at a pharmacy or within the field of development and scientific research of pharmacy practice. Results Discussion • Who has taken part in the questionnaire survey? • The 36 respondents represent the following groups in the given numbers: • 27 pharmacy employees – hereof 21 pharmacists and 6 pharmaconomists • 3 pharmacists from The Danish University of Pharmaceutical Sciences • 4 pharmacists from Pharmakon • 2 pharmacists from The Association of Danish Pharmacies • Out of these, 18 people work on projects of pharmacy practice. • How do respondents estimate the article guidelines? • The 50 % of the respondents who have read the article guidelines agree that these contain relevant points. 16 people find the guidelines easy to understand and to use by filling in. One person claims that the evaluation point had better be placed under the point of discussion. • Out of the 10 respondents who have worked on projects within the last couple of years, 8 say that they find the guidelines useful for presentation. • How do respondents estimate the present framework of the data base? • 25 respondents find the length of the article and the summary suitable. • 29 people agree that the articles should be approved by the editorial staff before they are accepted. • 32 respondents find it an advantage that manuals, registration forms and reports can be attached. 21 people would like to attach material on their own accord, whereas 10 people prefer to attach material according to agreement. • Regarding the use of the data base, 29 people declare that they will use it for orientation, 11 for presentation, 26 for preparation, and 3 people find no use for it. • 7 respondents say that they have an actual project to present when the data base opens. • What are the attitudes as regards funding/financing of the data base? • Scarcely half of the respondents have answered the question of funding. • Payment per article: • - margin of expenditure suggested is 3-100 kr. Median: 37 kr. • Monthly subscription (price): • - margin of expenditure suggested is 10-500 kr. Median: 117 kr. • 28 respondents are willing to accept advertising as a means of funding of the data base. We expect to find a coincidence between the respondents of our questionnaire survey and the future users of the data base. About half of the respondents have read the article guidelines and give them credit. This is hardly surprising as we have followed the generally accepted guidelines of articles intended for the communication of health related studies and projects (4-7). According to one of our respondents, the point of evaluation overlaps with the point of discussion and this should be avoided. Therefore this point is excluded. Barely 50% of the respondents have answered the question of funding. Some find this point difficult to take a stand on, the end product being unknown. Nevertheless, there is a certain willingness to pay. Our questionnaire survey was announced in a newsletter in the middle of the holidays, something which is likely to have influenced the degree of response. Consequently we assume that our respondents represent the people most interested in the data base. Alternatively, we could have singled out respondents for our survey but would probably have ended up with the same results. A survey based on interviews might have provided us with better information about adjustments/changes of the article guidelines. Conclusion One alteration of the article guidelines has been made after the survey; this is the point of evaluation. Our survey indicates that the establishment of the data base is generally supported. Perspectives Since our idea of establishing the data base has been welcomed, we would like to continue our work on the project. Our next step will be to find ways of financing the establishment of the data base. Costs and funding Introductory presentation: 70 hours. Questionnaire survey: 90 hours Development of home page: 10 hours. Poster: 30 hours The project will be presented by means of poster (FIP). For this we have received a grant from the Foundation of Hørslev. Material • H. Agerholm, L Petersen; www.apoteksudvikling.dk – a forum for the communication and promotion of scientific projects at Danish pharmacies, project description July 2008. Presentation • Poster, FIP 2008, Basel. • Article, September 2008, www.apoteksudvikling.dk References 1.http://www.farmaci.dk/.Access august 2008. 2.http://farma.ku.dk/index.php/Databaser/272/0/. Access August 2008 3.http://www.pharmakon.dk/asp/menu.asp?pageID=1333 . Access August 2008. 4.http://www.ugeskriftet.dk/portal/page/portal/LAEGERDK/UGESKRIFT_FOR_LAEGER/UFL_MANUSKRIPTVEJLEDNING/MANUSKRIPTVEJLEDNINGEN. Access august 2008. 5.http://www.springer.com/medicine/internal/journal/11096?detailsPage=contentItemPage&CIPageCounter=460109#anchor4. Access August 2008 6. Projektvejledning for farmakonomelever. Håndbog for undervisere – Projekt-vejledning. Pharmakon, August 2005. 7. Traulsen JM, Klinke BO. Projekthåndbogen. Jørn Thomsen Offset A/S 2005.