Pharmacy practice research: Evidence and impact

Abstract

This chapter summarises the current challenges that exist when matching increasing demand for health-care services to available capacity and funding. This has led to a drive to implement new services and redesign existing services in line with evidence of their clinical and cost-effectiveness. These principles are then translated into the context of pharmacy with consideration of the quality of the evidence available for pharmacy and related medicines services. Finally, there is an examination of the interplay between practice, policy and research, and examples are given of four different ways in which research can inform policy. The chapter concludes with a summary of the remaining challenges that need to be addressed to ensure that in pharmacy we can deliver an evidence-based service.