Increasing my knowledge of local research resources that could help me become more involved in pharmacy practice research

What are you planning to learn?

I wanted to develop my knowledge of research and to get involved with participating and undertaking research in my  community pharmacy. I have a community pharmacist friend in South West England and they’ve really motivated me about research because they belong to the regional pharmacy research network (see ‘Useful resources’, left).

How are you planning to learn?

I asked my friend what I could do to learn more about research. They suggested I contact my local school of pharmacy and ask to speak to someone involved in pharmacy practice research. I did this and I arranged an online meeting with one of the  academic researchers where we discussed what I wanted to do.

During the discussion, they mentioned that their PhD  student was conducting an interview study with community pharmacists about the Pharmacy First service and asked if I would be interested in participating. I immediately said yes, and after I read the participant information leaflet and signed the consent form, the student interviewed me. It was really simple and straightforward – the interview was conducted at a time to suit me. I learned about how an interview is conducted as well as being a participant – so a ‘win win’.

Give an example of how this learning has benefited the people using your services

It has made me think about how I could use research to improve the services from my pharmacy. I’m not going to interview people, but I am planning to design and conduct a survey with the help of my new academic colleague from the pharmacy school.