New opportunities for cooperation found within the research network for rational pharmacotherapy (RATTI)

Researchers and other medical-sector workers interested in learning about and promoting rational pharmacotherapy met to discuss research cooperation and related funding opportunities at a networking event held on 14 February 2019. The objective was to promote multidisciplinary research and form new research partnerships. The primary research topics raised during the discussions included the rational pharmacotherapy for the elderly, practices to promote medication safety, and the effectiveness of pharmacotherapy.

Pitching research work

At the networking event, individual researchers and research groups gave short pitches to introduce their expertise and current research projects dealing with rational pharmacotherapy.  In this way, the participants were able to find appropriate research interfaces and start to shape cooperative projects. The pitches revealed a wide variety of expertise in different areas of research, such as health economics and register-based research. The research topics presented included medication safety, the environmental impacts of medicines, pharmacy services, misuse of medicines, pharmaceutical policy and implementation of biosimilars.

The event also included the opportunity to comment on the content of the Medicines Barometer survey which will be carried out by Fimea. There is still time to provide feedback to Fimea on the modules to be included in the Barometer. The feedback will be utilised when the Medicines Barometer 2019 survey is carried out in the autumn.

Research communications to be further developed

It was stated at the event that high-quality research is being carried out in the pharmaceutical sector, but the visibility of this research needs to be improved in the future through professional communications. The networking event involved discussion of new communication methods that would serve to raise awareness of the research and improve the utilisation of research results in society. It is important to communicate this message to a wide variety of actors, so that, for example, it becomes part of political decision-making and reaches social and healthcare professionals and medicine users.

It was decided at the event to produce a policy brief for use by the RATTI network; this can be used by researchers to present their research and its results. It is hoped that this policy brief will promote both researchers’ awareness of research being carried out in the pharmaceutical sector and the familiarity with this research among actors utilising research data.

Start using the RATTI network logo

The event also saw the launch of the RATTI logo, which can be freely used by any researchers. The goal of the logo is to increase recognition of research dealing with rational pharmacotherapy. The logo is available from the RATTI network webpages in either Finnish, Swedish, or English.

Get connected to the network – LinkedIN and newsletters

The activities of the network is based on the Research Strategy for Rational Pharmacotherapy. All researchers and others within the field who are interested in this topic are welcome to join the network. You can start by joining the RATTI network LinkedIN group, which serves as a communications and discussion channel for all those interested in rational pharmacotherapy. You can also subscribe to the RATTI newsletter, which will keep you up-to-date on the network’s activities.

Read more

RATTI network presentation and logo (RATTI logo available on the website, in Finnish)

LinkedIN

Newsletter (in Finnish)

Rational Pharmacotherapy Action Plan (in Finnish):

Effective use of research data: Research strategy for rational pharmacotherapy 2018–2022 (Institutional Repository for the Government)

Publications and reports of the Rational Pharmacotherapy Action Plan (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, in Finnish)

Medicines Barometer

Medicines Barometer population survey (in Finnish)