the role of nalmefene in the management of excessive alcohol intake

MEDICINES INFORMATION ASSIGNMENT

YOUR ASSIGNMENT:

You are a Medicines Information Pharmacist at Bigtown Royal Infirmary. You are asked to prepare an information bulletin for prescribers in Primary and/or Secondary Care on the topic assigned to you in the first workshop.
Please note that work will not be accepted after the deadline as directed in the School policy. Feedback will be provided electronically within 15 working days of submission.

Write your title here – (We deduct 10% if you change this title, and score “0” if the change then means you have not answered the originally assigned question. If you lose your title then we will provide a more complex one!).

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Following completion of this exercise, students should be able to:
•   Collate, summarise and present information (Module Syllabus)
•   Demonstrate an awareness of the information needs of health services staff, and how these are best met.
•   Display good written presentation skills and an awareness of appropriate language in medicine information provision, depending on the reader.
•   Demonstrate an expanded personal knowledge base in an area of pharmacy practice.

THE TASK

This assignment must be presented professionally and consist of two single-sided pages of A4. The style should match NHS bulletins (an example is on Blackboard) but obviously yours will be much shorter and contain fewer references.

GENERAL ADVICE

•   We expect 15-20 hours of work for this assignment.
•   Length. Do NOT exceed two pages of A4.
•   Font & size. Do not save space by using an unacceptably small font that cannot be easily read. Arial 12 is used in this coursebook. We find that fonts such as Times New Roman are not as easy to read or as pleasing on the eye as Arial and other sans serif fonts.
•   Be clear and concise in order to fit your material into the allowed space.
•   Do not get assignments out of perspective; you need to do more than look in the BNF but this should not take weeks to prepare. However, you should begin to consider the title when you receive it and ask your group tutor for advice if you are struggling. It reflects poorly on third year pharmacy students to chase their group tutor the week before the deadline.
•   There is no right and wrong way to select material. Try to differentiate between “must include” and “would like to include”. Do not spend half your space reviewing the pharmacology of drug A if your question asks for something else such as whether A is better than B.
•   Review your subject in the BNF and basic references. Basic therapeutics textbooks like “Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics” or similar texts may help. There are often good reviews published by the NHS or professional bodies.
•   Why not show your bulletin to a friend? They will tell you if any points remain unclear and spot spelling/syntax errors. This is not plagiarism, but what qualified pharmacists do to ensure quality. This is essential if English is not your first language.
•   Look at the marking guidance. The TPs are not trying to catch you out; they are looking for good coverage of the key points with a clear message and consideration of any controversial points.
•   Spelling and grammatical errors will reflect badly on your credibility and the content of your bulletin. As does the use of capital letters for generic drug names, incorrect spelling of drug names and poor use of apostrophes .
•   Imagine you are a GP or pharmacist reading this next year- is it useful? That is our over-riding marking criteria.

REFERENCES
• It is appropriate to quote references in your document, as in a real bulletin, for key papers referred to, verbatim quotes, or essential further reading. Make sure your references are reputable and appropriate to GPs: do not cite Wikipedia or patient websites. Quote journals rather than on-line sources if available.
• Any references cited in the text should follow the Vancouver convention.
See the link on Blackboard which provides information on how to correctly reference different sources of information.

1. Books:
Author/Editor (if it is an editor/editors always put (ed./eds.) after the name). Title. Series title and number (if part of a series). Edition (if not the first edition). Place of publication (if there is more than one place listed, use the first named): Publisher; Year of publication.
E.g.: Sexton J, Nickless G, Green C. Pharmaceutical care made easy. London: Pharmaceutical Press; 2006.

2. A chapter in a book
Author of the chapter. Title of the chapter (followed by) In: Editor (always put (ed./eds.) after the name). Title. Series title and number (if part of a series). Edition (if not the first edition). Place of publication (if there is more than one place listed, use the first named): Publisher; Year of publication. Page numbers (use ‘p’ before the page numbers)
E.g.: Wood J. Metabolic and endocrine disease in the elderly. In: Armour D, Cairns C (eds). Medicines in the elderly. London: Pharmaceutical Press; 2002. p195-200

3. The BNF:
Joint Formulary Committee. British National Formulary. [edition number] ed. London: British Medical Association and Royal Pharmaceutical Society; [year of publication].

4. Printed journal articles:
Author. Title of journal article. Title of journal. Year of publication; Volume number (Issue number): Page numbers of the article
E.g.: Wright D. How to help if a patient can’t swallow. The Pharmaceutical Journal. 2011; 286: 271-274

5. Journal articles: (Use paper copy if available before using electronic copy)
Author. Title of journal article. Title of journal. Year of publication; Volume number (Issue number): Page numbers of the article. Available from: URL (uniform resource locator, internet address) (Date of access)
E.g.: Hatcher J, Gilchrist M. Invasive fungal infections: causes and diagnosis. Clinical Pharmacist. 2011;3:171-176. Available from: http://www.pjonline.com/cpd/cp201106fungal (accessed 29th June 2011)

6. Web pages and websites: Do NOT use Wikipedia/patient websites
Author/Editor. Title. Available from: URL. date of access
E.g.: Summaries of product characteristics. Available from: www.medicines.org.uk (accessed 20 March 2011).

7. Reports and other government policies:
Government department. Title. Paper number. Place of publication: Publisher; Year of publication. Available from: URL (date of access)
E.g.: National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. Clinical Guideline 92. Reducing the risk of venous thromboembolism (deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism) in patients admitted to hospital. January 2010.
Available from: www.nice.org.uk/cg92 (accessed 14 August 2011).

AVOIDING PLAGIARISM

Every year there are a number of students who deliberately or inadvertently commit plagiarism and receive “0” as a result. Some students then fail the module because they have insufficient coursework marks.
The copying of text from other sources is considered a serious offence and will be referred to the School Investigatory Panel. Any plagiarism is obvious when submitted via Turnitin.
Further details can be found on the University website but any text in your submission that is not your own (except where unavoidable, for example, in citing references) should be made clear. We suggest using quotation marks for those RARE occasions where quotation verbatim is appropriate and necessary.

Example 1
This is not plagiarism, because it is clear that the sentence has been quoted and the source is clearly referenced:

As detailed in the NICE angina guideline in 20111,
“Optimal drug treatment consists of one or two anti-anginal drugs as necessary plus drugs for secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease.”

1. Stable angina. NICE Clinical Guideline CG126 2011- Quick reference guide
Management of hypertension in adults in primary care. NICE Clinical Guideline CG127 August 2011 – Quick reference guide

Example 2
This is an example of plagiarism from Turnitin as seen by the marker.
Even though referenced, the words are not those of the student. Referencing a claim does not protect you from plagiarism if the words are not your own.

Marking Guideline for Teacher-Practitioners

0-10   20-30   40-50   60-70   80-90   100
Unsuitable for circulation without further work   Suitable for circulation with some work   Suitable for circulation with minimal work   Suitable for circulation.
References (10%)   No references or evidence of ‘cutting and pasting’.

References mostly inappropriate. Substantial use of patient websites.   Some inappropriate references.   References mostly appropriate.   All references appropriate.   Referencing contains no faults.
Content (60%)   Failed to provide answer.
Many inaccuracies or a single dangerous error.
No conclusion.   Content poor with several errors.
Limited conclusion.   Content accurate but missing key information.
Limited conclusion.   Content accurate but missing some information.
Reasonable conclusion.   Content mostly accurate. Appropriate conclusion.    Content accurate without inaccuracies. Appropriate & complete conclusion.
Layout (10%)   Layout unprofessional.
No effort displayed.
Plain text.
Layout poor.
Minimal effort displayed.
Layout acceptable but needs further.   Good layout which shows an understanding of target audience.   Professional layout which shows a clear understanding of target audience   No changes required.
Grammar (15%)   Repeated grammar or spelling mistakes.
No evidence of work being proof-read. Bulletin does not make sense.   Poor grammar and spelling.
Language too simplistic, too much jargon or waffle.   Some mistakes in grammar and spelling.
Some jargon or waffle.
A few mistakes in grammar and spelling. Mostly appropriate language.   Good spelling and grammar.
Appropriate language.   No spelling and grammar mistakes.
Expressed clearly and concisely.
Length (5%)   Over 2 pages long
Within 2 pages

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