Getting started with research
There are many ways to become (more) research active and aware:
• Get used to reading relevant research. Have a look at journal content for community pharmacy research (see ‘Useful resources’ for suggestions). Read the abstracts or full articles if you have access. This will give you a better understanding of the type of research that is possible. It might also help you to identify people who have shared interests to you (i.e. the article authors/research team) and you could contact them
• Identify someone who can help you learn more about research. Schools of pharmacy are a useful starting point. Have a look at their websites to identify what research they undertake and who is involved. Do a Google search for pharmacy practice research plus the topic you’re interested in to see who has published in this area and who is currently researching it. Email one of the named people involved in the research, or the head of school, introduce yourself and tell them you’d like to get involved with research and ask them to connect you with a relevant individual.
If there isn’t a local or relevant school of pharmacy, search for schools of medicine or nursing and look at their research interests and personnel to see if they include research that might be relevant to community pharmacy. Contact them. If they don’t reply, contact them again after a couple of weeks
• If you receive an invitation to participate in a research project, ask to be provided with the participant information leaflet (PIL) so that you know who is leading the research, what it involves, the benefits and potential risks, whether it has been approved by an ethics committee, who is funding the research (this might be of particular importance for some individuals or companies as you might need to avoid conflicts of interest)
• Consider undertaking Royal Pharmaceutical Society CPD modules about research, developed in collaboration with the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) – an excellent introduction (see ‘Useful resources’ for more details)
• Think about funding. If you want to explore a longer term plan for becoming more research active, there are now career pathways funded by, for example, NIHR and, more specifically for pharmacy teams, Pharmacy Research UK (see ‘Useful resources’).
Reflection exercise
What research topics do you think are most relevant to community pharmacy practice for the next few years? How would you rate these topics for importance (i.e. from 1-5 where 1 is least important and 5 is most important). For example:
- Comparing community pharmacy and GP management of common infections
- Understanding why variation in GP referrals to community pharmacies is so high
- Patient experiences and outcomes from pharmacy consultations in Pharmacy First-type schemes.
In principle, how interested would you be in participating in a research study about each topic (rate from 1 to 5 where again 1 is least and 5 is most important)? What factors influenced your ratings and why