In a letter published in The Journal at the beginning of this year (PJ, January 1, p11), Jane Robson highlighted that she was the only pharmacist present at the Northern primary care research network (PCRN) annual research presentation day. The day was well supported by practice nurses, podiatrists, academics and general practitioners, but there was no pharmacy representation. Why was Jane the sole pharmacy representative at such a day? Are these research networks not relevant to pharmacy?
There are now over 40 primary care research networks throughout the UK. Our team has been working with the North Central Thames PCRN for the past 18 months. This PCRN provides support to primary care practitioners in the Barnet, Camden and Islington, Enfield and Haringey and a small part of Brent and Harrow health authority areas. Our role has been to help to integrate pharmacists into the network. We would like to share some of those experiences, highlighting the opportunities and potential benefits to our profession of being involved in a multidisciplinary research network. The networks are often multiprofessional and provide education and training as well as research support. Ultimately, they aim to enable local primary care practitioners to develop research arising from their clinical practice, to incorporate the evidence into their everyday work.
So what does North Central Thames PCRN offer to pharmacists? Pharmacists can apply for funding to take part in research to provide equipment for systems development, education and training to develop relevant skills for new and experienced researchers to get involved in research at a level that suits them. Many of the basic skills learnt from involvement in research will support pharmacists to develop professional practice in today's NHS. In the spirit of multidisciplinary collaboration, there is scope to work with other local health care professionals, extending working relationships and further enhance pharmacists' expertise in medicines management. These opportunities add variety to the working day of a busy community pharmacist and, with the appropriate available support, increase job satisfaction. There is stimulus for reflection, which helps to avoid burnout and can provide a way of keeping up to date on specific topics.
How has the North Central Thames PCRN courted pharmacists? Initially it invited all community pharmacists in its area to register with it free of charge. They received publicity about all its activities, its newsletter and access to training events and the annual conference. It contracted us to network with all relevant stakeholders, nurture and support community pharmacists interested in becoming active researchers and foster a local research culture.
We contacted relevant health authority and primary care group (PCG) personnel, community pharmacy representatives, postgraduate pharmacist trainers, academics, and regional and national specialists to highlight the benefits of undertaking research in local priority areas and explore the value of pharmacist involvement in potential local research activity. This heightened local awareness of the research network and started communication among all interested parties. We then incorporated the needs of individual community pharmacists interested in getting involved in research projects into existing North Central Thames programmes to address support and mentoring.
We supported one particular community pharmacist to develop a London region primary care research and development initiative in collaboration with his PCG, on the topic of prescribing. This has been successful in the initial stages and is a credit to all involved, as they are all inexperienced researchers who, through enthusiasm and with continued support, have achieved the first stages in working up a research proposal. We have had to find creative ways to entice others to be involved in research to varying degrees. We had previously run focus groups and assessed the needs of the pharmacist members. We found that the pharmacists felt insecure about certain issues, including a perceived lack of relevant skills, experience and credibility, and felt that these were barriers to becoming more integrated into North Central Thames PCRN activities. We decided to develop a training programme to try to overcome these barriers, with the aim that development of research skills will help pharmacists to extend their wide-ranging public health functions and meet the demands of everyday community pharmacy practice in the modern NHS.
We wanted to introduce participants to the basic skills required to undertake practice research, to build capacity among pharmacists working in the North Central Thames PCRN area, to develop a culture of mutual support and to increase the confidence of participants to expand their professional role. The programme consists of a series of six evening workshops of 90 minutes' duration held at bimonthly intervals. Each workshop provides a choice of interactive workstations providing hands-on experiences for participants to choose from. By the end of the programme participants were introduced to finding medical information on the internet, appraising medical information, setting up a database, defining a research question, getting an idea of the highs and lows of undertaking research and giving a presentation. A stand displaying information about North Central Thames activities and training opportunities is set up at each workshop. The first two workshops in the programme have been held to date and feedback has been positive.
Do pharmacists want to play? We can only provide the evidence from our experiences, of course. The North Central Thames PCRN now has 65 pharmacist members. Five community pharmacists, inexperienced in research, have been mentored and are now on the road to active participation in research and development, through the PCRN's infrastructure. One of them has been successful in obtaining a grant from the London region primary care research and development programme and is currently involved in delivering the project. To date, 30 pharmacists have attended workshops to develop their skills in accessing available clinical evidence.
So, what are you waiting for? We challenge you to find out about your local primary care research network and what it has to offer you. No longer do we want to hear of single pharmacists attending annual meetings where other health care professionals may well discuss pharmacy practice research with minimal input from our profession. We need to be integral to these networks, using their resources, contributing to their activity and learning along the way. Here is an opportunity for new partnerships that can benefit professionals, clients and business. We cannot afford to miss it.