Pharmacy schools to take part in networks looking at patients safety
Two schools of pharmacy are to take part in multidisciplinary networks designed to bring together researchers looking at different aspects of patient safety issues.
Five patient safety networks are being set up with a total of £205,000
jointly awarded by the Department of Health, the Medical Research Council,
the Economic and Social Research Council, and the Engineering and Physical
Sciences Research Council.
Professor Nick Barber at the School of Pharmacy, London University, will
lead a network looking at the role of information technology in medication
errors. The network has received £50,000. It will examine the effects
of technologies such as computerised prescribing, automated dispensing
and intravenous infusion pumps. The network will involve researchers
from several institutions in London, Nottingham and the United States.
Professor Judy Cantrill at the Manchester school of pharmacy will join
colleagues from the University of Manchester’s departments of primary
care, psychology and health care management in a network looking at medical
errors in primary care up to and including the point where patients are
referred for specialist or hospital treatment. The network, which has
also received £50,000, will be led by Professor Martin Marshall
from the National Primary Care Research and Development Centre.
The other networks will look at how patient safety can be enhanced by
the design of medical equipment, how computers can be used to tailor
the information given to patients and so improve their understanding
of their treatments, and how the methodologies for measuring medical
errors can be improved. The networks have been set up in response to
requests from the chief medical officer for England. |
