Our Pharmacy Research Collaborative team meets every two months to develop strategies to promote a research culture within the Pharmacy Department. The Collaborative provides advice and develops governance procedures to support and facilitate research within the Pharmacy Department.
Our focus is to build research capacity through:
- Developing pharmacy staff knowledge regarding how to undertake research, including understanding the difference between research and QA/QI, and ethics requirements.
- Providing advice on time staff could be allocated to conduct research within the Pharmacy Department.
- Linking Pharmacy Department supported research with Departmental and HHS priorities.
- Increasing staff and student participation in research, including collaborative research external to the Pharmacy Department and GCH.
- Increasing the number of presentations and publications by Pharmacy staff, including posters/presentations from quality use of medicine (QUM) projects.
- Defining support provided to staff whilst undertaking higher level research.
- Supporting successful grant applications to facilitate research.
- Increasing the visibility of research within the Pharmacy Department.
- Developing Pharmacy research KPI’s.
The Pharmacy Research Collaborative is comprised of:
Pharmacy Department members:
- Pharmacist – Assistant Director(s) with Research Portfolio
- Pharmacist – Advanced or Senior/s, including Medication Safety and Clinical Trials
- Pharmacist Senior – Clinical Facilitator (Griffith)
- Pharmacist Senior – Clinical Educator
- Pharmacist Senior – Research (Chair)
- Pharmacist (Secretariat)
Representatives from:
- Office for Research Governance and Development, Gold Coast Health
- Griffith School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences
- The University of Queensland School of Pharmacy
View the Pharmacy Research Collaborative Terms of Reference for further information about the collaborative.
Dr Laetitia Hattingh
Dr Laetitia Hattingh is Senior Research Pharmacist and Chair of the Pharmacy Research Collaborative. She has expertise in research methodology and the clinical and social aspects related to health care delivery.
Laetitia has specific research interests in medication management and safety in hospital and primary care, mental health and substance misuse, evaluation of new models of care and ethics/law. More details at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Laetitia-Hattingh | Email: Laetitia.hattingh@health.qld.gov.au
Dr Brooke Bullock
Dr Brooke Bullock is the Acting Assistant Director of Pharmacy. Brooke is a mid-career Researcher having completed her PhD focused on the Pharmacist impact on Post Take Ward Round communication and medication appropriateness. Brooke’s areas of interest are Medication management, models of care, communication and recruitment. Email: Brooke.bullock@health.qld.gov.au
Pharmacy Clinical Trials Services provide support to all clinical trials that involve medicines.
- For information about cancer clinical trials, contact ClinicalTrialsPharmacistGCHHS@health.qld.gov.au
- For non-cancer clinical trials, contact Fiona Maple-Clark, Consultant Pharmacist Clinical Trials email Fiona.Marple-Clark@health.qld.gov.au or GCUHPharmacyClinicalTrials@health.qld.gov.au
Students from various universities undergo Quality Use of Medicine (QUM) research focussed placements with the Pharmacy Department on an ongoing basis. These placements are designed for the students to examine a QUM issue at the placement workplace.
The Pharmacy Department participates in the University of Queensland and Griffith University QUM research placements. This provides opportunity for pharmacists to mentor students doing small research projects such as audits on medicine prescribing and use. QUM placements could also be discreet studies that are part of bigger research projects. Examples of QUM student projects conducted during 2023:
- Evaluate the accuracy of medication reconciliation in Emergency Departments
- Don’t Drop Pop – medication management of behavioural disturbances in the elderly in Emergency Departments
- Time for Emergency Department doctors to reconcile medicines on admission to hospital
- Impact of outpatient renal clinic pharmacists on the accuracy of medication records on admission
- Children’s Developmental Services pharmacist-physician collaborative care model
- Prospective review of smoking cessation interventions in inpatient psychiatry units
- Audit of the metabolic management of mental health inpatients
The Phoundations in Pharmacy Research sessions are aimed at fostering a Community of Practice for research within the Pharmacy Department. Sessions take place on the 3rd Thursday of each month at 12-1pm, offered as hybrid (face-to-face and online via MS Teams).
Practical sessions include:
- How to write abstracts, use Endnote and do database searching
- Journal club discussions and how to review types of articles/studies
- “How to” related to supervision of QUM students
- Exploring different research methodology
- Sharing of research and QI projects
- Upcoming research/QI opportunities e.g. grants, conferences
