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Posted Tue, 2 Aug 2016 11:38:12
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Dear Colleagues,

Please see below for details of a PhD Studentship at Nottingham University:

Involving community pharmacists in the provision of palliative care medicine services

Please forward to anyone who you think may be interested in this opportunity and share within your networks and newsletters or bulletins.

Many thanks,

Kristian Pollock
[log in to unmask]

PhD Studentship: Involving community pharmacists in the provision of palliative care medicine services

Reference MED1388X1

Closing Date : Monday, 22nd August 2016

Department: Health Sciences, University of Nottingham

Applications are invited for a full-time 3-year PhD studentship, funded by the School of Health Sciences in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Nottingham to commence at the end of September 2016 or January 2017. The academic supervisors are Dr Kristian Pollock, Principal Research Fellow, and Dr Asam Latif, Clinical Academic, from the School of Health Sciences. This project will be of interest to students with a background in community pharmacy and/or social science.

The studentship will be centred on involving community pharmacists in the provision of palliative care medicine services with the aim to understand the current engagement of community pharmacists in supporting patients, carers and health care professionals to manage palliative care medicines, and explore how this can be extended in the future. The candidate will be associated within the Nottingham Centre for the Advancement of Research into the Study of Supportive, Palliative and End of Life Care Research Group (NCARE: (https://nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/srcc/index.aspx). This group aims to carry out research which will lead to greater understanding of patient experience of chronic, debilitating and life-threatening illness and improvement in professional delivery of health care.

The proposed research reflects the fact that the number of patients living with life limiting and terminal illness in the community is growing and they are increasingly being asked to manage complex medicine regimes over extended periods of time; a task which many report to be burdensome and challenging. Given pharmacists’ expertise in the use of medicines and recent investment in innovative medicine management strategies, there are significant opportunities for community pharmacists to extend support for the multi-disciplinary team as well as patients and carers in optimising management of palliative and end of life care medicines.

The PhD will be interdisciplinary, integrating key ideas and approaches from a number of disciplines. The topic will be of interest to students from a wide range of academic disciplines who have an interest in medical sociology and anthropology and the study of palliative and end of life care as well as the practice of pharmacy. The following research questions will be explored:

· How are community pharmacists in England involved in supporting medicines management in community settings for patients referred for palliative care?
· What are the views of community pharmacists and community pharmacy policy leads on palliative care medicine services and how these can be further developed and extended?
· What are the inter-professional barriers to integration of community pharmacists within community palliative care services and how can these be overcome to improve medicines management in palliative care?

The successful candidate is invited to consider the use of qualitative, mixed method or other appropriate methodology to answer these questions.
Applicants should have a first- or upper-second-class honours degree or equivalent and some experience of research. Ideally they will have completed a relevant Postgraduate Masters’ degree, preferably an MSc, to a high academic standard attaining, or being expected to attain, at least a ‘Merit’ or the appropriate equivalent. However, relevant clinical experience will be considered as a substitute for a Masters’ degree.

The person appointed will be a highly-motivated individual with strong written and verbal communication skills. The successful candidate will be expected be able to work independently and be responsible for attending appropriate research methods courses, developing the research design and protocol, gaining ethics and governance approvals, data collection and analysis and final write up. Funding would be conditional upon a successful Disclosure and Barring Service check. The English Language requirement is: IELTS 6.5, with at least 6.0 in each element; TOEFL IBT 87 with no less than 20 in speaking and 19 in all other elements. Possessing a driving licence and access to a car is a requirement as the project will involve travel to interviews.

The studentship offers the equivalent Home/EU tuition fees in addition to a yearly stipend of £14,296 subject to satisfactory progress. International students are welcome. However, they will need to secure the additional funds required to make up the full International tuition fee amount. The University’s Admissions Office can provide further guidance on fee status.

The University of Nottingham offers an excellent research training programme, accredited by the Economic and Social Research Council, as well as supportive supervision. The successful student will join a lively community of research students across the School of Health Sciences and be part of the NCARE Research Group.

£ 14,296/year stipend

How To Apply
Applicants should email the following to [log in to unmask]
1. A detailed CV
2. Personal Statement / short report (max 1000 words) indicating how your qualifications, background and experience to date have prepared you to undertake PhD level research, specifically in relation to this topic. Your report should contain your initial methodological ideas about how the study might be carried out.
 
Interviews are expected to be held at the University of Nottingham, Queens Medical Centre on Wednesday 31st August and the studentship will start at the end of September 2016 or January 2017.

More information about the School and its research can be found here:
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/healthsciences/index.aspx
Informal enquiries may be addressed to Asam Latif email: [log in to unmask]

Closing date for application is Monday 22nd August (11.59pm).
* Information for candidates ( pdf | doc )

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