Inside Tomorrow's Pharmacist (2001)

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MPharm projects — the King's experience

MPharm projects — the King's experience by Imogen Savage

"It's impossible — they'll never do it" was my first reaction when I heard the plans for the first round of MPharm fourth year projects.

We'd run student projects in the past — and very good some of them were too. But they were never a major part of the undergraduate course. Now we were running a masters degree, and the final year project would be worth half the marks for the year.

The aim of this new element of the course was to give students a real taste of research work. Not just actually doing research, and writing it up, but also the whole business of publicising their findings to other people.

The idea was great — spreading research findings so they get taken up is really important, particularly in the pharmacy practice area. What stopped me in my tracks was the amount of work they had to do in a very short space of time.

The format for the final year may vary from school to school. At King's, students had just one semester to plan, do, analyse and write up a piece of lab or field-based research, backed up with a literature survey or review. There were strict and detailed rules to follow for the written report, which could be up to 10,000 words.

"The standard expected is that of a contribution to a scientific conference" went the blurb we circulated. On top of the written report students had to prepare an abstract for submission to a "project symposium" to be held after the Easter break. At the symposium they would be expected to present a poster of their project, and answer questions from staff assessors. Just like a "proper conference". I think if I'd been faced with such a daunting task as an undergrad I would have wanted to run away and hide.

It might look as if there was plenty of space in the timetable for the actual project work, but this was the first time for everyone and it took a while to get some of the projects off the ground. First, the students had to pin down their supervisors. And that, as any King's student knows, is not always as easy as it sounds!

The actual project areas ranged from molecular modelling, gene sequencing and the adulteration of Chinese herbal medicines through to student asthma care — or lack of it — and the influence of culture and religion on attitudes to health care. There was even one called: "Has PIANA really changed your life?"

Doing the projects wasn't so much of a problem; it was meeting the very tight deadlines which was the main test.

The abstract had to be submitted by a certain date, even if the project wasn't quite finished. Otherwise the student wouldn't get allocated a space for their poster. And both abstract and poster carried marks. Most of us were up to the wire with the timescale. Within the space of a day, dozens of files all called "abstract" dropped into the symposium co-ordinator's postbox. He had to put them all together in the symposium proceedings, which we published on the college web. But he couldn't tell whose abstract was whose. A plea had to be put out: use your name as a file name.

We supervisors did have a certain amount of interest in "our projects" and did our best to help make sure they came out OK. But as the symposium date drew nearer, we began to feel anxious. We'd had the written reports by that stage and had been encouraged by the high standard. But a symposium seemed so much more public. It was like having a very large family on display. What on earth would the posters be like? Were we just expecting too much?

Well I expect you can guess that our students really did us proud. In fact it's fair to say they surprised us. People we thought were quiet, just ticking along, emerged as resourceful self-motivated researchers with minds of their own. It was great to see their enthusiasm and confidence when we asked them to "take me through your poster". They really knew their projects, and handled our questions well.

And the posters? Well of course they were wonderful, though the big printer at our computer HQ nearly exploded with the strain of producing so many high quality A4 sheets. The next time I get a poster presentation, I know exactly who to ask to help me.

So from our point of view the first round of MPharm projects has been a resounding success. Us lecturers are quite looking forward to next year. We hope you are too!

The details of the fourth year project assignment will probably vary from school to school. But the following general tips should apply wherever you are.

Learn to love your computer. If you're one of the technophobes who has always submitted hand-written work, get into the 21st century now. Word processed reports look great and cost far less than getting someone else to type up your work.

A computer is much more than a typewriter. Learn to think of it as your notebook. Use it for jotting down your plans, notes and references. Make a directory called "my project" with folders in it like a filing cabinet. Get yourself a box of disks and keep them just for project stuff.

Always back up your work on a floppy disk (or two — because accidents can happen). Keep it somewhere safe.

Lab-based projects are usually pretty specific. But practice-based ones can be bit vaguer, so make sure you pin your supervisor down! Agree what your final project title will be and rough out a plan, or list of contents, for your report. Do this as soon as you can.

If you do a field-based project you will usually need help from someone else to get at the data you want. Be prepared for things not to work straight away. Analysing the process you go through to get, for example, access to a certain group of patients, is an important part of your methods section.

Keep your supervisor updated. It doesn't have to be done face-to-face — a quick email can be just as good.

Make sure you keep receipts for any research costs (eg, travel). You should be able to claim these back.

The way you use and list (cite) references will be important to your examiners. There are two main styles, the Harvard system (the name-year approach) and the Vancouver system (citation sequence approach). Your supervisor will tell you which one to use. If you want to check how most medical journals cite odd things like news articles, theses or internet resources, you can find a guide on www.icmje.org.

Yes you can use a web page as a reference. But remember that books and most academic journals are peer reviewed. Web information isn't. So try and find a proper reference to back up your URL.

Your supervisor may well have published something which is relevant to your project. If they don't tell you, do check. Citing their work will give them a nice warm glow.

Strictly follow the rules on layout and format when you write up your report. They may seem really picky but it is good training

If you submit project drafts (or other assessed work) by e-mail, it's a good idea to use your name as part of the file name. Remember lecturers may have several projects to supervise.

Never print off the final version without letting your supervisor read it first. They will probably spot some mistakes and their suggestions may win you extra marks. E-mail is great here, as they can mark changes straight onto your pages. But do try and give them more than 24 hours before the hand-in deadline. What they'd really like is several weeks notice.

Dr Savage is a lecturer in primary care pharmacy, King's College, London