Clinical Pharmacist’s Guide to Biostatistics and Literature Evaluation. If you are involved in interpreting the medical literature to optimize patient care, improve health outcomes, or generate hypotheses for research, an understanding of biostatistics is essential. ACCP’s Bookstore now offers a guide to strengthen your knowledge of—and confidence in—the use of biostatistical tools.

With material drawn from ACCP’s Pharmacotherapy Self-Assessment Program (PSAP) and the live pharmacotherapy preparatory course, “Updates in Therapeutics,” Editor Robert DiCenzo, Pharm.D., FCCP, BCPS, has designed this concise review to support pharmacists’ preparation for the Pharmacotherapy and Ambulatory Care Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) examinations.

Contents of the guide are:

• Section I. Basics of Biostatistics and Statistical Tests
  -- Basics of Biostatistics
  -- Choosing the Appropriate Statistical Test
• Section II: Literature Interpretation and Application to Patient Care
  -- Interpreting Results from Clinical Trials
  -- Pharmacoepidemiology

Each chapter includes a selected bibliography and a set of self-assessment questions designed to test your understanding of the material. A table of helpful equations appears at the front of the book, with answers to the self-assessment questions at the back.

Pharmacists new to practice as well as seasoned practitioners wanting to refresh their understanding of biostatistics and literature evaluation will benefit from this helpful guide.

Call for Reflections. ACCP is soliciting essays of 500–2000 words that reflect on patient/client care within professional settings. The essays will be published in a new ACCP book, Reflections on Pharmacy Practice. Potential contributors include clinical pharmacists, clinical faculty, residents, fellows, and students.

Historically a product-oriented profession, pharmacy has had less incentive to encourage practitioners to reflect on their interactions with patients/clients/students in professional settings. Now, with an expanded mission to provide pharmaceutical care and assume responsibility for drug therapy outcomes, those in the pharmacy profession are becoming aware that, at both the educational and practice levels, it is important to develop habits of mind that are wider in scope than clinical problem solving.

We are looking for short essays that explore humanistic values and ethics within professional settings—essays that reflect on the joys, sorrows, failures, and successes in pharmacy practice; reveal the complexity of professional practice; and inspire professionals toward more ethical, altruistic, and character-driven practices. Because clinical pharmacy faculty members also have a professional, fiducial relationship with students, we are requesting essays that reflect on faculty/student interactions, role models, and preceptors as well.

If you are interested in exploring the possibility of submitting such an essay, please send an e-mail of interest to [email protected]. Decisions about the selection of submitted essays will be based on the quality and insight of the essay and the adequacy of coverage of the desired topics.

Save with New Discounts on the PSAP-VI Series

Continuing pharmacy eduction (CPE) credit is still available for six of the books in the Pharmacotherapy Self-Assessment Program, sixth edition (PSAP-VI). Now, you can have all 11 books in this edition of ACCP’s popular home study program at great savings.

PSAP provides clinical information for the pharmacist who wants to stay abreast of evidence-based updates on select patient care topics. The PSAP-VI books, released from 2007 to 2009, consist of Cardiology, Nephrology, Neurology/Psychiatry, The Science and Practice of Pharmacotherapy, Infectious Diseases, Pulmonary and Critical Care, Women’s and Men’s Health, Health Promotion and Maintenance, Gastroenterology/Nutrition, Oncology, and Chronic Illnesses.

For information about PSAP faculty, sample chapters, and available CPE hours, click here. See the table below for discount pricing information on PSAP-VI full-series and single book purchases. Shipping and handling charges apply only to print books. To place your PSAP-VI book order, click here.

ACCP Publications Catalog 2011/2012. Look for the new ACCP Publications Catalog at the “Updates in Therapeutics” meeting in Columbus, or request a copy by e-mail at [email protected] or telephone at (913) 492-3311. You will find illustrated and detailed descriptions of all the new resources available in the Bookstore—together with classic and favorite titles.