Abstract
Kanagawa Society of Hospital Pharmacists published in Oct. 2000 the booklet “Hospital Pharmacists' Story in Cartoon Style : Part 2-Obstetrics and Pediatrics Version” to enable the general public to obtain accurate knowledge of pharmaceutical products and to improve their understanding of the pharmacists' work in hospitals.
In Feb. 2001 the booklet was mentioned in a national newspaper, and as a result many requests were made to the Kanagawa Society of Hospital Pharmacists for the booklet. Subsequently, we conducted research on the public's evaluation of this booklet by using a questionnaire (printed on a postcard) attached therein.
The number of booklets sent out between Feb. 1 st and Mar. 31st in 2001 totaled 11, 019. One thousand seven hundred twenty-eight individuals responded to the questionnaires, and the response rate was 15.7%.Ninety-nine point two percent of the respondents said, “The booklet helped me understand (or understand very well) that pharmacists working in hospitals have a responsibility to carefully manage drug treatment.” Furthermore, 98.4% of them said, “The explanation of drugs at the end of the booklet was useful (or very useful).” The questionnaire revealed that a copy of the booklet had been read (or would be read) by an average of 3.8 persons. Consequently, it could be estimated that a total of over 40, 000 persons had read the booklet.
We believe that the publication of this booklet has been effective in enabling the general public to obtain accurate knowledge of pharmaceutical products and also for improving their understanding of the pharmacists' work in hospitals. However, such an activity cannot be conducted thoroughly by a single body, therefore, we would like to engage in more far-reaching educational activities in the future by cooperating with other organizations.
