Research grant offered to support an investigation into pharmacists' role as supplementary prescribers
 Proposals for research that will investigate pharmacists as supplementary prescribers are being invited by the Pharmacy Practice Research Trust.
The research will be expected to explore aspects of pharmacist prescribing
and its impact on the care patients receive. Funded by a grant from Boots
The Chemists,
the project will form part of the
trust’s “Medicines and People” research programme.
The maximum budget for the research project is £50,000, inclusive
of overheads and VAT, if applicable. The final product will be a detailed
report. It is expected that the project will take 12 to 18 months to
complete.
The trustees are looking to develop understanding of the following aspects
of supplementary prescribing:
· Patients’ experience, especially in relation to access to medicines
and information about their medicines and their attitudes towards pharmacists
as prescribers
· Pharmacists’ experience of their training, especially the “learning
in practice” aspects and including the process of negotiating agreements
with clinical supervisors and sponsoring organisations
· Pharmacists’ experience of developing and implementing clinical
management plans
· Pharmacists’ experience of taking on new accountabilities and
responsibilities for the care of patients
The trustees also hope to gather information about pharmacists’ expectations
relating to job satisfaction and team working as a
result of their involvement in supplementary prescribing.
The trust says that it is keen to develop thinking about how one might
measure the health and economic benefits of innovations in pharmacy practice — supplementary
prescribing being just one of a broad range of new areas of practice
that pharmacists are currently implementing.
Digby Emson, director of professional services at Boots The Chemists,
and also a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Council,
said: “We anticipate that the introduction of supplementary prescribing
will provide opportunities to improve the quality of life of some of
our patients, as well as providing professional development opportunities
for some of our pharmacists. We are, therefore, keen to understand the
issues around its introduction, uptake and success”.
Sir Graham Hart, chairman of the Pharmacy Practice Research Trust, said: “The
trustees welcome the opportunity to work with Boots The Chemists to develop
knowledge, understanding and know-how in this exciting new area of pharmacy
practice.”
Further information and application forms are available from Zoe Whittington,
the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s research manager (tel 020 7572
2276; e-mail zoe.whittington@rpsgb.org).
The deadline for completed applications is 7 April 2004.
The Pharmacy Practice Research Trust
The Pharmacy Practice Research Trust is an independent research
charity established in July 1999 to promote and develop the field
of pharmacy
practice research. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society provides
core funding as part of its investment in practice research.
The trustees are drawn from among senior health policy makers,
leading academics, industrialists and retailers.
The supplementary prescribing research grant is offered through
the trust’s “Medicines and People” programme, which
aims to promote research that will enable policy makers, manufacturers,
prescribers and others to “better understand people who use
medicines and the contexts in which they use them”.
Information about the trust can be obtained from Kerry Crabb at
the Society (tel 020 7572 2275;
e-mail kerry.crabb@rpsgb.org). |
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The
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