UK/EU PhD studentship: The Economics and Informatics of Patient Safety 

Centre for Patient Safety and Service Quality/School of Public Health 


Imperial College London and the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust have been awarded £7.2m by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to support the Centre for Patient Safety and Service Quality Patient Safety (CPSSQ). The principal partners of the new Centre include the Clinical Safety Research Unit (within the Department of Surgery and Cancer of Imperial College), the Centre for Infection Prevention and Management, the Dr Foster Unit, the Centre for Medication Safety, and the Centre for Health Policy. A number of Imperial College academics and Imperial NHS staff are funded, affiliated and engaged with Centre-related research across a range of research streams – including effective use of information; design and technology; patients, carers and families; teamwork, skills and safety; safe systems and economics, evaluation and policy. 

Two streams, ‘Economics, Evaluation and Policy’ and ‘Use of Information’, of the Centre for Patient Safety and Service Quality (CPSSQ)  are jointly offering a 3-year studentship to carry out research on policy regulation in the area of patient safety using quantitative and economic policy analyses methods, and focusing broadly on the effective use of information within healthcare and patient safety, hospital quality and hospital performance The researcher will join an experienced team of health economists, health service researchers, and clinicians, and will be a member of and registered with the Department of Primary Care and Public Health (Head, Professor Azeem Majeed) in the School of Public Health (Head, Professor Elio Riboli), and be co supervised by the leads of the information stream, Prof Paul Aylin, and of the economics stream, Dr Katharina Hauck. 
The innovative nature of the project requires a person with the interest and capacity to contribute to the development of this exciting new field of health economics and health information, and very good skills in micro-econometrics, quantitative economic analyses, Epidemiology, Statistics, Operational Research, or a related numerate subject and preferably an MSc in a related area or equivalent experience, and a passion for interdisciplinary research. 
The PhD student is expected to identify and develop areas of her/his own interest within the overall scope of the research outlined above and the broader scope of the information and the economics research streams of the CPSSQ. Potential research projects to be carried out could include, but are not limited to: 
•	Research into the optimal design of policies to improve patient safety and hospital quality
•	Quantitative analysis of clinical pathways using routinely collected information. 
•	Economic analyses of safety initiatives, using a combination of existing data sources and data to be collected by and in collaboration with the other teams of the CPSSQ and its partners;
•	Mapping the information flow through the primary/secondary care interface to improve patient safety. 
•	Identify, implement and evaluate electronic patient safety recording.
•	Econometric modelling of responses to patient safety information.
•	Economic analyses of the implications of medical errors to patients, families and carers, hospitals and other healthcare providers, and the wider health care system;

The student will be expected to play a full and active role in the academic life of the Department.

The studentship will pay UK/EU tuition fees and a starting stipend of £17,500. The studentship is available to UK nationals or EU nationals who have lived in the UK for at least three years immediately preceding the date of an award. Owing to funding restrictions, applications from overseas candidates cannot be considered. For general eligibility details please see the following Research Council terms and conditions: http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/ResearchCareers/postgrad/Pages/home.aspx

The successful candidate will be strongly motivated and capable of independent work and will have a degree in Economics, Epidemiology, Statistics, Operational Research, or a related numerate subject and preferably an MSc in a related area or equivalent experience. The project will provide an opportunity to consider patient safety from multiple angles within a stimulating multidisciplinary environment. 

If you wish to discuss the studentship informally, please contact:
Dr Paul Aylin: [log in to unmask] or Dr Katharina Hauck: [log in to unmask]

All students will belong to the Graduate School which provides a full programme of training in research and transferable skills. Further details of the Department can be found at:  http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/graduateschools


You should send one hard copy, and an electronic version, of a full CV, including names of two referees, and a letter stating why you are interested in your preferred project to [log in to unmask] and Dr Paul Aylin, Dr Foster Unit, 3 Dorset Rise, London EC4Y 8EN.  

Please note that candidates must fulfil College admissions criteria. For an informal discussion please contact our postgraduate admissions team at [log in to unmask]

Closing Date: 31 January 2014

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