Original papers and short reports

To reduce the number of medicines discrepancies among haemodialysis patients

To examine the use of isoflurane, sevoflurane and desflurane across hospitals in England and explore whether the data can be compared for benchmarking purposes

To assess the current level of service offered to clients for smoking cessation and to identify opportunities for improvement

An educational campaign expressing the importance of using LMWHs in medical patients appears to have increased the rate of prescribing. Further audits with larger patient groups would be required to establish statistical significance

AIM: To determine the views, experiences and attitudes of pharmacists in Scotland towards Royal Pharmaceutical Society branches. To identify facilitators and barriers to branch meeting attendance. To explore future preferences

To assess the usefulness of a medicines information service in terms of impact on patient care. Medicines information has been a well established service in the UK since 1969, handling over half a million queries each year

To optimise the outcomes of medicines use reviews. More than five million people in the UK live with asthma

To explore community pharmacists’ perceptions of motivations and barriers influencing their engagement in continuing professional development over time. The Department of Health has emphasised the link between lifelong learning and the quality of healthcare provided by the NHS, encouraging healthcare professionals to identify and meet their learning needs to maintain their competence

To explore pharmacists’ views of peer review as a means of improving the quality of medicines use reviews (MURs). MURs have been offered from community pharmacies for over three years

To evaluate a pilot of a community pharmacy-based travel health and vaccination service. In 2005, UK residents made a record 66.4 million visits abroad, up by 4 per cent on the number of visits made in 2004 and an increase of 14 per cent over the previous five years