Understanding research principles: Giving our patients the care they deserve

Extract

Pharmacists play a pivotal role in the U.S health care system by providing evidence-based care, generating new knowledge, educating future generations of practitioners, and participating in policy development. In the current edition of AJHP, Schumock and Pickard¹ provide a comprehensive discussion of comparative effectiveness research. This review is timely and critical, given President Obama’s plan to integrate comparative effectiveness into health care reform. Pharmacists, as medication experts, should play a critical role in the policy discussions that are under way and in the use of comparative effectiveness research in patient care. While pharmacists can bring a tremendous amount of knowledge about medication-use to the table, meaningful participation requires that pharmacists have a strong understanding of the research principles that underlie evidence-based practice, including these comparative effectiveness studies. In a previous editorial in the Journal, Winterstein and Vermeulen² referred to pharmacists as “consumers of research.” We would argue that pharmacists must be informed consumers who understand fully the research that drives their practice.