Dunhill Medical Trust Project 4 : The Pharmaceutical Care of Older People with Sensory Impairment (OPwSI) at University of Strathclyde on FindAPhD.com

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Prof Margaret Watson , Dr Marilyn Lennon No more applications being accepted Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

Glasgow United Kingdom Epidemiology Health Psychology Pharmacy

About the Project

The Pharmaceutical Care of Older People with Sensory Impairment (OPwSI)

Older people are disproportionately affected by sensory impairment (SI) (hearing and/or visual) and more likely to use multiple medicines and to live alone. Pharmaceutical care aims to promote the safe and effective supply and use of medicines. OPwSI are at high risk of harm and therapeutic failure. Healthcare settings, consultations and services need to support the complex needs of the growing number of older, community-dwelling citizens to facilitate their ability to live at home for as long as desired.

This PhD will use multi-stakeholder coproduction of evidence based (EB) guidelines for the assessment and management of the pharmaceutical care of OPwSI and will test the feasibility of the guideline implementation into different healthcare settings.

The PhD will involve mixed methods. Year 1 (Y1) will involve the identification and synthesis of evidence to inform the guidelines and the establishment of an international multi-disciplinary guideline development group. In Y2, participatory methods, will be used to derive formalised consensus regarding the content and format of the guidelines. Y3 will involve a feasibility study to evaluate the guideline implementation into different healthcare settings.

This is studentship is part of a cohort of four studentships called The Pansophy Cohort: Multidisciplinary solutions to age-related challenges of pharmaceutical care. The cohort is funded by the Dunhill Medical Trust (https://dunhillmedical.org.uk/).

These PhD studentships are part of a wider research programme (www.sipa2project.co.uk) (references 1-4). A bespoke Patient and Public involvement (PPI) group will be created for the purpose of supporting and advising the PhD cohort throughout the three-year period. Funding is available to establish this group and included meeting attendance and preparation, travel and subsistence. Additional funding is available to support annual PPI engagement events in addition to the engagement that will be undertaken as empirical elements of the individual projects.

The University of Strathclyde has an Age-friendly Academy, the members of which will be invited to contribute to the development of the PhD projects and to consider participation in the PPI group if relevant i.e. the group will comprise representatives of OPwSI.

The PhD students would be expected to join the Strathclyde Aging Network (https://www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/psychologicalscienceshealth/research/multidisciplinaryresearchgroups/ageingnetwork/).

Keywords:

Pharmaceutical care; evidence based practice; guidelines; medicines; older people; sensory impairment/loss

Funding Notes

The studentship is fully funded and includes fees, stipend and support costs to a total value of approximately £73,000 across the studentship.
Please note that the studentship covers UK fees only. While non-UK applicants can apply, they need to specify in their documentation how they will fund the difference between the home UK and international fee rates.

References

1. Smith K, McAden L, Kroll T, Alhusein N, Taylor A, Killick K, Stoddart K, Watson MC. A qualitative exploration of the experiences of older people with sensory impairment on their pharmaceutical care journey. Age and Ageing 2019
2. Alhusein N, et al (last author Watson MC). “We’re really not ready for this”. Community pharmacy personnel perspective on the needs of older people with sensory impairment: qualitative study Disability and Health Journal 2019 Apr;12(2):242-248.
3. Alhusein N, McAden L, Smith A, Stoddart K, Taylor A, Killick K, Kroll T, Watson MC. “Have they seen me” a multiple methods study of the pharmaceutical care needs of older people with sensory impairment in Scotland BMJ Open https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/8/8/e023198.full
4. Killick K, et al (last author Watson MC). A scoping review of the pharmaceutical care needs of people with sensory impairment. Int J Pharm Pract. 2018 Oct;26(5):380-386.

Where will I study?

University of Strathclyde

Our leading-edge research and close links with business, industry and the public sector makes us the University of choice for a growing number of doctoral researchers.