Clinical Research – iheed (PGCert) – B94K
Emma Townsend, East Lancashire Hospitals Trust
Within the current archetype of pharmacists within the NHS, although we are committed to pursuing clinical effectiveness as a pillar of clinical governance, there are currently few opportunities for involvement into research and research education that I have experienced.
From my intermittent exposure to research during my undergraduate degree and pre-registration training year, I have always found the process of research engages me differently to that of my clinical work and have enjoyed the new opportunities for learning that it brings. Since qualifying as a pharmacist, my focus moved to developing my clinical competence. Now that I am confidently working in a clinical specialism I enjoy, I am fortunate to spend more time with patients. My patients inspired me to be curious in the prescribing of PERT initially as I could see that disparity in practice existed. This prompted me to complete a trust wide audit to quantify whether that was true, and it was. Further to this I found that patient confidence in how to titrate their PERT doses was consistently quite low. As a curiously natured person I felt the desire to develop my clinical research skills to seek direction as to how I could better serve the patients I see. This inspired me to complete my Good Clinical Practice course and begin the associate principal investigator scheme linked to a critical care trail as a mechanism to gain exposure.
This opportunity to receive funding for formal research education is unique and exciting. The PgCert the course selected ‘Clinical research –iheed’ is pitched to provide a wholistic introduction to the clinical, ethical and practical aspects of conducting a research project. The course is more involved than other short courses but as I have previously completed a post graduate Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy practice delivered as a fully remote course, so I am experienced in this style of delivery. As my topic of interest for research is broad, a course that teaches creating and refining a research question, considering study designs, appraising literature, and analysis techniques in a structured manner is key for me.
As I hope to ultimately progress to collating a consultant pharmacist portfolio, research is a key pillar in the skills set required. As a credited course the PgCert offers a formal qualification that can be progressed to a MSc. In my current role as the lead pharmacist for nutrition and hydration I want to drive the delivery of progressive evidenced based care though engagement with research and create opportunities for junior pharmacist to experience research within pharmacy practice.
