The global pharma market will reach $1.12 trillion in 2022 and the United States holds an estimated 45 percent of the global pharmaceutical market. Pharmaceuticals and those who work in the industry play an important role in the world, developing vaccines and medicines that cure diseases and save countless lives.
At the hard of all the work in the pharma industry is a research notebook and though notebooks may seem old-fashioned in an increasingly technology-driven world, a scientific notebook still plays an important role.
- Keeping Track Of Things: An important function of a laboratory notebook is that it gives pharma workers a record of their work and ideas they have about future developments. Taking the time to carefully record every step up research, every test and every idea gives workers a look at their progress, especially if they’re working on a particular vaccine or medicine. Rather than trying to remember what they did from day to day, workers can simply flip through their notebook and see exactly what they’ve done. It typically takes 10 to 15 years to develop a medicine or vaccine, so keeping track of all the work involved is very important.
- Recording Ideas: Recording the step-by-step process of an experiment is essential, but a notebook is also useful for jotting down any ideas for future developments. Much as a person might keep a shopping list or a checklist of things to do in everyday life, a scientific notebook allows workers to keep track of their progress and instantly write down any ideas that come to mind. The last thing a worker wants is to be achingly close to a breakthrough with an idea in mind and lose his/her train of thought and forget the idea. Having a notebook close by can ensure that won’t happen.
- Staying Organized: It’s been established that checklists in everyday life can be extremely helpful. The same principle can be applied to science. Having a checklist in a notebook at the beginning of the day can help workers keep track of progress and help them plan out their day in advance.
- Keeping Track Of Partners: Working on the latest experiments or vaccines isn’t a one—person show. Hard work like this requires the work of many people, which means that certain people will likely have certain responsibilities in the work process. To limit or totally avoid mistakes and to double-check work as it progresses, a lab notebook is the perfect tool for keeping a record of the work of multiple people and allows for easy review of previous work, so that those involved in a project can provide feedback if necessary.
- Making money: Breakthroughs in science and in medicine lead to patents and the patent process requires a record of work and of progress as well as a schedule. Recording all of that important information in a notebook can make the patent process a lot easier and could prove to be very critical. If two people are trying to patent the same thing at the same time, having a record of work can prove who made the discovery first and determines who gets the patent.
Whether it’s students in school or journalists out in the field or scientists toiling away in the lab, a notebook is an essential tool for recording information and ideas. Even as technology overtakes traditionally pen and paper note taking, having a notebook close by at all times is an easy way to keep information on hand.
