The Journal of the Royal Medico-Chlrurglcal Society of Glasgow. the Medlco-Chirurglcal Society of Edinburgh, and the Scottish Society for Experimental Medicine lSSN: 0036-9330
Volume 21 OCTOBER 1976 Number 4
A DIPLOMA IN PHARMACEUTICAL MEDICINE
Scottish Medical Journal
Colleges of Physicians in the United Kingdom to offer a Diploma in Pharmaceutical Medicine. Notice of the first annual examination has now been published. It will take place at ~he Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, m November this year. Details are obtainable from the Registrar. The regulations stipulate at least 2 years general medical training after acquisition of a medical qualification that is registrable in Britain or in the country where it was granted. A further period of 2 years training within the pharmaceutical industry is also required, but considerable latitude will be allowed in how this is achieved. The scope of the examination is extremely broad, reflecting the varied nature of the work. A successful candidate will have been able to demonstrate individual competence to handle most of the problems that a medical adviser is likely to encounter in his job. Those who normally specialise in a small part of the field will be expected to be reasonably familiar with the rest. No-one would suggest that the creation of this new diploma solves the difficult problems surrounding accreditation of this group of doctors in Britain, though it seems to equate more closely with E.E.C. requirements. Nor is it suggested that doctors working in the field should necessarily acquire it, though it should prove to be a source of pride and value to those who do. It does, however, confer unprecedented recognition of the specialty of pharmaceutical medicine and it will no doubt serve to establish and maintain the high standards that are to the advantage of everyone-the industry, profession, government and ultimately the patient. T. B. BINNS,
Doctors who work as medical advisers in the pharmaceutical industry have done a great deal over the past 20 years to improve their own professional expertise and their collective reputation. They represent a special type of generalist and some of them have left industry for government. Both manufacturers and the official committees set up under the Medicines Act of 1968 have found that co-operation between well-trained and experienced staff is invaluable in the smooth implementation of the present complex drug evaluation and registration procedures. Therefore it would be a pity if recent developments in postgraduate training requirements for British :doctors were to affect adversely future progress, mobility and recruitment. The first and most important difficulty for medical advisers and certain other small groups is that their work, though akin to clinical pharmacology, does not fit into any of the recognised specialist categories for which training programmes for accreditation have been set up by the Joint Committee on Higher Medical Training. These resulted from the report of the Royal Commission on Medical Education (Royal Commission on Medical Education, 1968) and were designed to meet the needs of the N.H.S. The second is that, elsewhere in Europe, there is a different system of specialist registration, usually requiring 3 to 5 years of postgraduate study. This system will shortly be applicable to all countries in the E.E.C. (British Medical Journal, 1976) and in the future it is expected that more doctors will move and work in Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics other countries of the community. In fact, London Hospital Medical College, ' this particular type of skill may be readily Turner Street, London El exportable because of the international character of the industry and the trend to- REFERENCES wards harmonisation of health authority British Medical Journal (19711). Editorial. British Medical Journal, 1, 546 requirements. Royal Commission on Medical Education 1965·68 An important outcome of many discussions (1968). Cmnd. 3569, London: H.M. Stationery has been the decision of the three Royal Office
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Volume 21 OCTOBER 1976 Number 4
A DIPLOMA IN PHARMACEUTICAL MEDICINE
Scottish Medical Journal
Colleges of Physicians in the United Kingdom to offer a Diploma in Pharmaceutical Medicine. Notice of the first annual examination has now been published. It will take place at ~he Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, m November this year. Details are obtainable from the Registrar. The regulations stipulate at least 2 years general medical training after acquisition of a medical qualification that is registrable in Britain or in the country where it was granted. A further period of 2 years training within the pharmaceutical industry is also required, but considerable latitude will be allowed in how this is achieved. The scope of the examination is extremely broad, reflecting the varied nature of the work. A successful candidate will have been able to demonstrate individual competence to handle most of the problems that a medical adviser is likely to encounter in his job. Those who normally specialise in a small part of the field will be expected to be reasonably familiar with the rest. No-one would suggest that the creation of this new diploma solves the difficult problems surrounding accreditation of this group of doctors in Britain, though it seems to equate more closely with E.E.C. requirements. Nor is it suggested that doctors working in the field should necessarily acquire it, though it should prove to be a source of pride and value to those who do. It does, however, confer unprecedented recognition of the specialty of pharmaceutical medicine and it will no doubt serve to establish and maintain the high standards that are to the advantage of everyone-the industry, profession, government and ultimately the patient. T. B. BINNS,
Doctors who work as medical advisers in the pharmaceutical industry have done a great deal over the past 20 years to improve their own professional expertise and their collective reputation. They represent a special type of generalist and some of them have left industry for government. Both manufacturers and the official committees set up under the Medicines Act of 1968 have found that co-operation between well-trained and experienced staff is invaluable in the smooth implementation of the present complex drug evaluation and registration procedures. Therefore it would be a pity if recent developments in postgraduate training requirements for British :doctors were to affect adversely future progress, mobility and recruitment. The first and most important difficulty for medical advisers and certain other small groups is that their work, though akin to clinical pharmacology, does not fit into any of the recognised specialist categories for which training programmes for accreditation have been set up by the Joint Committee on Higher Medical Training. These resulted from the report of the Royal Commission on Medical Education (Royal Commission on Medical Education, 1968) and were designed to meet the needs of the N.H.S. The second is that, elsewhere in Europe, there is a different system of specialist registration, usually requiring 3 to 5 years of postgraduate study. This system will shortly be applicable to all countries in the E.E.C. (British Medical Journal, 1976) and in the future it is expected that more doctors will move and work in Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics other countries of the community. In fact, London Hospital Medical College, ' this particular type of skill may be readily Turner Street, London El exportable because of the international character of the industry and the trend to- REFERENCES wards harmonisation of health authority British Medical Journal (19711). Editorial. British Medical Journal, 1, 546 requirements. Royal Commission on Medical Education 1965·68 An important outcome of many discussions (1968). Cmnd. 3569, London: H.M. Stationery has been the decision of the three Royal Office
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