Your Pharmacy Career Podcast
The “Your Pharmacy Career” Podcast will feature a leader from the profession, discussing their career and sharing their experiences and learnings.
Hosted by Pharmacist, Krysti-Lee Patterson, get ready to be inspired, informed, and empowered as Krysti-Lee shares her wisdom, experiences, and interviews some of the brightest minds in the field. Whether you're a seasoned professional, a budding pharmacist, or just curious about the diverse opportunities in pharmacy, "Your Pharmacy Career" is your go-to podcast.
This is the Podcast of Raven's Recruitment, an Australian owned recruitment agency specialising in permanent and locum Pharmacist recruitment for the Pharmacy Industry since 1987 across Australia and New Zealand.
Your Pharmacy Career Podcast
Elissar Mansour & Dr Fei Sim - Australian Pharmacy Students' Journal, the world's only peer-reviewed pharmacy student journal
A discussion about Australian Pharmacy Student Research is featured in this episode, in which the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Australian Pharmacy Students' Journal, Elissar Mansour, and the President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, Dr Fei Sim, share their research journey and encourage more pharmacy students to participate. Australian Pharmacy Students' Journal is the only peer-reviewed pharmacy student journal in the world, providing pharmacy students around the world with the opportunity to develop research skills and publish their work. In addition to publishing their own work, interns and students have the opportunity to review and edit others' work.
About Elissar Mansour
Elissar Mansour recently graduated with a Bachelor of Pharmacy (Hons I + University Medal) from the University of Sydney and she is now completing her internship at Blacktown Hospital in Western Sydney (NSW). Passionate about research from a very young age, she has been involved in diverse research projects ranging from Pharmacy Practice to Pharmaceutical Sciences, and has recently completed her honours project in the field of Drug Development.
Her passion for the Pharmacy profession also drove her to be a leader at her university where she was elected as President at the Sydney University Pharmacy Association (SUPA) in 2021, and Executive Director at the National Australian Pharmacy Students' Association (NAPSA). Her role within NAPSA expands to also being the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Australian Pharmacy Students' Journal (APSJ), a journal that was created to provide students and interns with the opportunity to publish their work, become reviewers and be involved in editing roles.
Having had the privilege of experiencing research from her first year at university, Elissar hopes to utilise her role within NAPSA to increase the engagement of students in research and create more opportunities for young researchers.
You can find Elissar Mansour and Dr Fei Sim on LinkedIn.
Do you have questions about your pharmacy career? Then contact usor meet our team.
0:00
Welcome to Your Pharmacy Career podcast
0:03
proudly brought to you by Raven's
0:04
Recruitment Australia's leading
0:06
specialist Pharmacy recruitment agency
0:09
the podcast series is being created to
0:11
shine a light on the diverse and
0:12
inspiring careers of Australia's
0:14
pharmacists each episode will focus on
0:16
the varied career opportunities within
0:18
the pharmacy industry by exploring the
0:20
career paths taken by leaders in the
0:22
fields of Community Pharmacy Hospital
0:25
industry government and professional
0:27
organizations careers Never follow
0:30
Define path everyone's story is
0:32
different and unique in their own way
0:34
the podcast series will help you
0:35
discover the world of opportunities that
0:37
exist and reveal Pathways to achieve
0:39
your dreams and
0:41
aspirations whether you are a pharmacy
0:43
student early career pharmacist or
0:45
simply looking for a change at any stage
0:47
of your career the podcast series is
0:49
designed to help you navigate ways into
0:51
a career and a life that you love your
0:54
host of the podcast series is Allie Xu
0:56
Allie herself a pharmacist is now the
0:59
founder of global Pharmacy entrepreneurs
1:01
and a passionate advocate for pharmacist
1:03
to grow innovate Excel and make a
1:06
lasting impact in the world it's now
1:08
over to our host Ally
1:10
Xu welcome to your Pharmacy career
1:12
podcast I'm your host Allie Xu and I'm
1:15
thrilled to introduce our special
1:17
episode today where we will be exploring
1:19
the crucial role of Pharmacy research
1:22
we're honored to have two inspiring
1:24
guests Elissar Mansour the co-editor in
1:28
Chief of the Australian Pharmacy
1:30
students journal apj and Dr Fei Sim the
1:35
president of the Pharmaceutical Society
1:37
of Australia the apj is the only
1:40
International peer reviewed Pharmacy
1:42
students Journal globally providing an
1:46
essential platform for pharmacy students
1:48
and interns to present their research
1:51
work gain invaluable experience as
1:54
reviewers and editors and contribute to
1:58
the growth of the pharmacy profession
2:00
Alysa recently graduated with a bachelor
2:03
of Pharmacy with first class honors and
2:06
was awarded the university medal from
2:09
the University of Sydney she has an
2:12
impressive research portfolio including
2:15
her honest project in drug development
2:18
her passion for research and Pharmacy
2:20
has driven her to leadership roles at
2:22
her University where she served as
2:25
president of the Sydney University
2:27
Pharmacy Association super and executive
2:31
director at the national Australian
2:33
Pharmacy Students Association
2:36
napsa together Alissa and Dr Fei Sim will
2:40
share their inspiring Journeys as
2:42
Pharmacy researchers and discuss the
2:44
significant role of Pharmacy research in
2:46
the field let's and dive straight into
2:50
this exciting
2:52
episode welcome to your Pharmacy career
2:55
podcast Alysa tell us about your
2:57
Pharmacy Journey thanks for having me
2:59
out Ali I'm really excited to talk to
3:01
you today um so just to give you a bit
3:03
of background around my journey and how
3:05
I got to these roles before I got
3:07
involved with napsa I was actually first
3:09
part of the Sydney University Pharmacy
3:11
Association which is like the home
3:14
Branch um at Sydney uni and I started
3:17
off my first year um being the Community
3:20
Pharmacy awareness officer in my second
3:23
year I decided to step up and I was
3:25
elected as president of sua and I guess
3:28
throughout this role um I learned a lot
3:30
of skills you know how to talk to people
3:32
how to lead a group of people and I
3:35
guess my passion for pharmacy really
3:37
grew I decided to join napsa and to step
3:40
up and have this National role so I was
3:43
also elected to be the executive
3:44
director of research was because I've
3:45
always had this passion for it and I
3:47
think it might date back from actually
3:50
my parents so my parents are both
3:52
academics um at universities so they're
3:54
both researchers and I think since I was
3:57
a kid um you know when they would come
3:59
home and tell me about their day at work
4:01
it was always something that was
4:02
fascinating for me and um you know that
4:05
helped me do little calculations for
4:07
them here and there and I knew I wanted
4:09
to do something in healthcare they they
4:11
do something completely different yeah
4:12
when I joined Pharmacy I saw how many
4:14
opportunities there were and since my
4:16
first year at Uni I've been involved in
4:18
research projects um essentially I
4:20
thought I had you know like a good
4:22
background on research and I wanted to
4:24
expand it further and create new
4:25
opportunities for students um through
4:27
this role with Napo what is the purpose
4:31
of research what is the core reason
4:33
behind research the reason why Australia
4:37
has one of the best Health Care Systems
4:39
and the reason why we provide best
4:41
patient care is because of the research
4:42
that we have um whether that be in
4:45
Pharmacy practice or clinical Pharmacy
4:46
or pharmaceutical science it is very
4:48
important that we have this holistic
4:50
approach um you know in every aspect
4:53
when it comes to healthcare or any other
4:55
field and this can only be done through
4:58
research obviously there's like
5:00
individual experiences um but research
5:03
just shows you know provides evidence um
5:06
as to what works and what doesn't work
5:08
definitely research is very important so
5:10
we can progress and improve our field in
5:13
Pharmacy make sure that patients will
5:15
always get the best treatments you can
5:17
look at it from you know many
5:19
perspectives whether that be you know
5:20
the creation of new drugs or the
5:22
creation of new protocols and guidelines
5:25
um and I think the purpose of research
5:27
is just improvements and getting to
5:29
someone where that's better than where
5:30
we are today how can we get involved how
5:33
did you get involved simply reach out
5:37
that would be my answer talk to your
5:38
professors just show them that you're
5:40
interested and I can guarantee that
5:42
someone will take you on that's for
5:43
starters the second opportunity that I
5:46
wanted to mention today is um how you
5:48
can be involved in research and that is
5:51
through napsa um so Napa's actually
5:53
created this students Journal it's
5:55
called the Australian Pharmacy students
5:57
journal or the apj and the whole purpose
6:00
behind the journal is providing students
6:02
with the opportunity um to be involved
6:05
in research and you know try out
6:07
research um and essentially the journal
6:09
is composed of uh research articles so
6:12
original research articles and then
6:14
there's a second part that's um reserved
6:16
to opinion piece competitions where we
6:19
provide students with a certain theme or
6:20
a certain question and um students can
6:23
you know Express themselves and write
6:25
their own thoughts on this question the
6:28
reason why um I really want to stress
6:30
the important of the the importance of
6:31
the apj is that it's a student it's a
6:34
student L Journal so it's completely um
6:36
run by students uh whether that be the
6:39
behind the-scenes work um even the
6:41
reviewers they're trained students and
6:44
we also have academics of course to
6:46
support us um and we also have a
6:48
subcommittee that's composed of of
6:49
students as well and it's only students
6:52
and interns that are allowed to actually
6:54
submit in the journal so the opportunity
6:56
is there now how can you actually submit
6:58
to the journal if you know say you're a
7:00
seconde student you have this interest
7:03
in research and you just don't know
7:05
where to start um just reach out if if
7:07
you don't can't think of a way to start
7:09
a project uh reach out to us at napsa
7:12
we're we're all students here so we
7:14
really understand um the interest that
7:17
students have and we're more than happy
7:18
to provide advice on that but um to
7:21
initiate your own research project as
7:22
well well if you know some people at Uni
7:24
or even if you don't just reach out talk
7:27
to your professors talk to your peers
7:29
speak speak to people that have done
7:30
research um and see how they started um
7:33
and it's honestly very easy all of the
7:36
professors are really Keen to provide
7:37
students with this opportunity um and
7:40
yeah depending on your interest if you
7:42
already know what you're interested in
7:44
you can always you know speak to this
7:46
Prof Professor that gave you a lecture
7:48
on mental health or speak to this
7:50
professor that's giv you a lecture on
7:52
sleep for example and yeah reach out to
7:54
them and let them know that you're
7:55
interested in helping them out why would
7:57
you take on this extra work um because
7:59
will help you with your studies and I
8:00
can guarantee that once you understand
8:04
the purpose of what you're studying in
8:06
the real world your passion and for for
8:09
your field is going to grow
8:11
automatically even like for example the
8:13
project that I was talking about which
8:15
was the mix of economy and Pharmacy
8:17
practice it was essentially looking at
8:20
um the price of um breast cancer
8:22
chemotherapy drugs um according to
8:24
classes and how you know they differ
8:27
between the states and how this is
8:28
increasing and this is decreasing while
8:30
this might seem like it's a project you
8:32
know just looking at the prices if you
8:34
think about it in real life this is
8:36
affecting people this might affect
8:38
people's um quality of life as well like
8:41
there's a whole financial burden on
8:42
patients and yes I'm looking at numbers
8:45
I'm looking at whether why is this class
8:46
of drug more expensive why is it there's
8:49
more um you know money spent on drugs in
8:51
this state the whole purpose is
8:53
improving quality improving the quality
8:54
of life of patients so you always have
8:56
to think ahead why am I doing this and
8:59
even your Pharmacy degree you're uni
9:01
learning about this drug you're uni
9:04
learning about this medical condition
9:05
but what is the actual purpose of
9:06
learning about it so you can provide
9:08
patients with the best care when you're
9:10
done so if patients come to you and
9:12
they're like I've recently been
9:13
diagnosed with diabetes what am I doing
9:15
you have you know the background to let
9:16
them know what's meant to happen from
9:19
now on how you can support them from now
9:20
on and I think research complements that
9:22
perfectly because you're you're also
9:25
looking at how um your work and what
9:27
you're studying actually has an impact
9:29
in in the outside world which is you
9:32
know what where we're all going to end
9:34
up once we finish our degree as a
9:37
coeditor in Chief of the Australian
9:39
Pharmacy student journal what are your
9:42
involvement from a napsa director point
9:45
of view so my main role within napsa is
9:48
to take care of the Australian Pharmacy
9:50
fist Journal so the apj um of course I'm
9:53
doing this alongside an amazing team so
9:56
we have our second co-editor-in-chief
9:57
and then an amazing subcommittee um it
10:01
is not a one person job so um it's you
10:04
know it's a whole team um to make the
10:06
apj work and um be ready for publication
10:10
um I I touched a little bit on the apj
10:12
earlier um essentially the journal um is
10:15
targeted for students it's a platform
10:17
for students and interns to publish
10:19
their research if you've graduated
10:21
you're a pharmacist now and you
10:23
conducted This research project while
10:25
you were an undergraduate for example
10:27
you are still eligible to public publish
10:29
in the apj and the purpose of publishing
10:32
this is first of all this is a whole
10:35
like um new skill that you learn
10:37
publishing in a journal matching your
10:40
paper to the guidelines of the journal
10:42
also improving your paper based on the
10:44
feedback of reviewers and for the apj we
10:47
have student reviewers and academic
10:50
reviewers and all of our student
10:51
reviewers have been trained um it's I
10:54
think it's a really interesting thing to
10:55
look at other people's point of views
10:57
and people who have experience in um
11:00
research and taking into consideration
11:02
their advice to improve your own paper I
11:04
I think the last purpose of publishing
11:06
is the purpose of research itself which
11:09
is um you know Improvement of um modern
11:12
work and modern Pharmacy and how with
11:14
your paper you can lead to improvements
11:16
in certain areas um of our profession
11:19
and the apj is distributed to a lot of
11:23
NS of supporters um and that includes
11:25
big organizations universities and
11:27
students um and academics
11:29
and it will get your work out there so I
11:32
really encourage you if you have
11:33
conducted a research project or if
11:35
you're currently conducting a research
11:36
project in your student that you
11:38
consider publishing in the apj um I know
11:41
for a fact so I've been conducting a few
11:43
University presentations um around some
11:46
universities in Australia um and a lot
11:49
of people you know are conducting
11:51
research projects for an assignment or
11:53
you know for their honors project but
11:55
for a lot of students they think it
11:56
might just end there when this actually
11:58
a platform for you to get your work out
12:00
there you put a lot of work into writing
12:02
this paper might as well you know put it
12:04
out there and um put it out for other
12:06
people to learn from what you've been
12:07
working on for months or years and also
12:10
to point out although it's called the
12:12
Australian pharmacist students Journal
12:14
um it is an international Journal so
12:16
we've had actually um submissions from
12:19
people from overseas we had people from
12:20
the Philippines and Malaysia um New
12:22
Zealand Etc um they have published in
12:25
our Journal as well so it will also give
12:27
you this International exposure um to to
12:29
your
12:30
articles now let's hear from Dr Fei Sim
12:33
the president of pharmaceutical Society
12:35
of Australia and discover her journey as
12:38
a pharmacy
12:40
researcher hi thank you so much for
12:42
joining out discussion you've done your
12:45
PhD in Pharmacy you are a PhD supervisor
12:48
could you please share with us your
12:50
research journey and what madej you want
12:53
to do research thank you Ellie and thank
12:55
you for having me um I want to start by
12:57
acknowledging the traditional studing of
12:59
the land that I'm diing into this call
13:01
today and for me that's the waja uh
13:03
country um and this land belongs to the
13:05
waja people and I pay my respect to
13:07
their Elders past present and emerging
13:10
um ell I also want to congratulate the
13:11
students um so this journal is
13:14
incredible to actually have the students
13:17
champion this lead this take control of
13:20
you know having something like that this
13:22
is amazing so I really want to
13:24
congratulate our Australian students for
13:26
actually you know putting this together
13:28
not only only would this have impact in
13:30
Australia it would also have impact
13:32
worldwide because anyone else you know
13:35
any other students any other academics
13:37
any other pharmacist in any part of the
13:39
world will be able to read what this
13:42
what is in this journal so I do think
13:43
this is incredible because it's actually
13:45
an opportunity for our Australian
13:47
students to publish their work formally
13:52
and uh and and it's through a peer
13:54
review process as well as I understand
13:56
so U for them to have their work have
13:58
their names have that platform for them
14:01
to disseminate their work for the world
14:04
to see it's an incredible thing I mean
14:06
not only it's going to allow them to
14:08
share what they have found to help
14:10
improve practice um in all parts of the
14:12
world to make real impact but it also
14:15
gives them a platform as well to learn
14:18
about what research is about learn about
14:20
how to actually conduct you know a
14:23
research how to GA data how to
14:25
synthesize information and how to
14:27
disseminate that information so it
14:28
actually can be translated into practice
14:30
so I absolutely want to congratulate the
14:32
students this is amazing when I first
14:34
heard about it I was very excited for
14:36
the students what have you benefited
14:39
from doing research all these
14:42
years yeah for me the reason how I got
14:45
into research is because I want to fix a
14:48
problem and I always say to my students
14:50
as well don't do research for the just
14:53
for the sake of doing research do
14:55
research because there's a real reason
14:58
there's a real purpose behind it so if
15:00
there was actually a problem that you're
15:02
trying to solve in practice uh at your
15:06
workplace or anything that you've
15:08
noticed that you feel like you want to
15:10
solve that problem you have a question
15:12
that you want to answer for and you want
15:14
to solve this problem the best thing to
15:16
do is to do a to to do research because
15:19
what it means is that you're going to
15:20
follow robust research methodology to
15:24
then um get you know to have the
15:27
findings and to find that Sol solution
15:29
that is evidence-based that you know
15:32
it's likely going to work to actually
15:34
address the problem that you have and
15:36
sometimes you know depending on the
15:37
types of research you're conducting if
15:39
the problem was quite big and the
15:40
problem is new nobody has done a lot of
15:43
research into it the first stage of
15:44
research is usually identifying what
15:47
actually the problem is identifying
15:49
where the Gap is because if we don't
15:50
know fully what the Gap is we're not
15:52
going to be able to find a proper
15:54
solution to it and in the meantime you
15:56
know in between we need to find people's
15:58
opinion want to get options from people
16:00
and and and so on so that whole part is
16:03
is all research and uh so so that's how
16:06
I got into research because at that time
16:08
I actually was intern pharmacist so when
16:11
I was a student I in my final year um I
16:15
did an honest project and that was
16:17
actually uh about medicines and
16:19
breastfeeding and then when I graduated
16:22
and when I was doing my intern year I
16:24
very quickly noticed that you know as an
16:27
intern pharmacist if a breastfeeding
16:29
woman comes up to me and say um is this
16:32
medicine safe to be used in
16:33
breastfeeding I go and look up my
16:35
references and there's not a lot of
16:38
information most of the medicines that
16:40
you look at it will say you know
16:42
insufficient information available avoid
16:45
to be on the safe side and Anna was
16:47
reflecting on that and I thought that's
16:49
not good enough because at the same time
16:52
whilst we want to protect um the
16:53
breastfed infants we also want to make
16:55
sure that the um breastfeeding mothers
16:58
are actually receiving appropriate
17:00
pharmacotherapy if they need treatments
17:02
they need to if they need to be on
17:04
medicines to manage their own medical
17:05
conditions they should have the ability
17:07
to do that so how do we resolve this to
17:09
resolve this we need more research and
17:11
that's how I got into the whole research
17:13
space and started my PhD and at that
17:15
time my honor supervisor highly
17:17
encouraged her to come back and do a PhD
17:19
and I really love teaching um and be in
17:21
the academic environment and that's how
17:23
I I started um so for me I think what is
17:26
very important now what is really good
17:29
now with this students academic Journal
17:32
it really gives students a platform to
17:34
share their findings to disseminate
17:36
their findings the reason why I say this
17:38
is because I find the hardest part of
17:41
research is to make sure that you're
17:44
doing research that can have an impact
17:47
and can be translated into real life
17:49
practice but when you're doing research
17:53
from when you're doing research and then
17:54
you get your findings to getting um a
17:57
practice implication and actually having
17:59
an impact in practice and translating
18:01
into practice how are you going to get
18:02
there you can only get there if there is
18:05
dissemination of that information which
18:08
means how do you translate what you have
18:10
found publish that disseminate that so
18:13
that the real world can pick that up and
18:15
have an impact and that is why
18:17
researchers um focus so much on
18:19
dissemination publication conference
18:21
presentations seminar attendance because
18:24
those forums those are mechanisms for
18:27
you to share your findings and find
18:30
likeminded people that are and similar
18:32
people with and people with similar
18:34
interests um and who are working in the
18:36
similar area to collaborate and join
18:38
forces because we are stronger when we
18:40
work together I think I've said that
18:42
like many times now um and and so that
18:45
that journal is you know I wish when I
18:48
was a student there was something like
18:49
that right so now students there's
18:51
actually this journal this platform for
18:53
students to share their findings so
18:56
doing University training you know
18:58
students might get the opportunity to to
19:00
do small chunks of projects to get a a
19:04
taste of research whether it's part of
19:06
their degree or part of a summer
19:07
volunteer project or part of their
19:11
higher de research project whatever that
19:13
might be um having this channel it means
19:16
that they can they can work towards that
19:19
learn about dissemination and learn
19:21
about that journey to translate that
19:23
into policy and practice so I think that
19:26
journal is really important because it
19:28
creates that vericle for that what I
19:32
just said uh to occur what's the best
19:34
way to get into research do they have to
19:37
be at University in the lab in what form
19:40
can they take working as a community
19:42
pharmacist as well as doing research
19:44
that's a good question Ellie because the
19:46
whole time I should mention when I was
19:49
um doing my PhD when I was doing
19:50
research I was practicing as a community
19:52
pharmacist so that that's my area of of
19:55
practice so that's a really good
19:57
question because that's doesn't matter
19:59
where we practice doesn't matter where
20:01
the setting is there will always be
20:02
clinical problem that you want to
20:04
resolve there will always be practice um
20:06
issues that you want to improve so it
20:09
really depends on you ask the question
20:11
are you do you have to be in the lab do
20:13
you have to attach to a university it
20:15
really depends on the types of research
20:17
that you want to conduct because not all
20:19
research are conducted in the lab um
20:21
some research are conducted through a
20:23
survey methodology interview methodology
20:26
or observation you know so there are
20:28
many different forms of um research and
20:33
there are various different forms of
20:35
research methodology so it really
20:37
depends on what the project is to then
20:40
Define where that person would be when
20:43
they're collecting their data so how do
20:45
would someone start in the PSA key
20:49
policy document uh called the pharmacist
20:51
in 2023 that you you would be aware um
20:54
one of the 11 key action items
20:57
specifically was dedicated tied to um
20:59
fostering a research culture within our
21:03
profession and that shouldn't just be
21:06
for people who are already pharmacist
21:08
surely it's everybody all pharmacist
21:11
including Pharmacy students as well
21:14
because Pharmacy students are Future
21:16
Leaders in the profession so it's in
21:18
it's the entire profession and the
21:20
reason why we say we have to foster a
21:23
culture of research within our
21:25
profession is because everything that we
21:27
do for the benefit of the patients that
21:30
we're helping for the benefit of the
21:31
workplace that we are practicing in it
21:34
it is best that we actually provide
21:38
evidence-based practice so when we say
21:41
evidence-based what is evidence-based
21:43
where does the evidence come from the
21:45
evidence come from research right if we
21:48
say you know um when someone has
21:51
hypertension and what is the first line
21:54
recommendation that is evidence-based we
21:57
would say first line usually you know
21:59
for any um metabolic condition we would
22:02
say try three months of lifestyle
22:04
modifications and then if it doesn't
22:06
work specifically let's say if it was
22:08
hypertension then you would try a DI
22:10
hydrop perian Kum Channel Walker for
22:11
example so how do we come up with
22:14
something like that what gives us you
22:17
know those recommendation yes it's in a
22:18
guideline but where do you think those
22:20
guidelines get their you know guidance
22:22
from it's actually all from research and
22:25
so evidencebased evidence means it has
22:27
to come from an appropriate research
22:30
that is following you know robust um
22:33
validated research methodology because
22:35
that way we can trust the outcome and
22:37
the findings so it really depends on
22:40
what the project is how big that project
22:42
is the scale and so on and projects
22:45
research projects can be small or they
22:47
can be big and they can be small to
22:48
start off with uh as a pilot as a
22:51
feasibility study to then um springboard
22:54
onto something bigger for widescale
22:56
implementation and the other reason for
22:58
we need research and evidence bases
23:00
because you know now in my role we do
23:03
advocacy right we have policy work and
23:05
we do advocacy and you know we meet with
23:07
ministers regularly we meet with
23:09
parliamentarians regularly to advocate
23:12
for pharmacist and as we Advocate they
23:15
would say well you're asking pharmacist
23:18
to vaccinate more where is your evidence
23:20
that pharmacists can do it safely and
23:22
effectively so I use vaccination as an
23:24
example where do you think the evidence
23:25
comes from it comes from research
23:27
Gathering data looking into how many
23:30
advis reports have been um reported how
23:32
many incidents have been reported can
23:35
pharmacist do it safely have there been
23:37
any complaints have there been any uh
23:39
Improvement in vaccination rates and
23:41
time to access vaccinations what is the
23:44
formal remuneration what is the consumer
23:46
level of satisfaction what's feedback
23:48
from consumers and patients what
23:49
feedback from pharmacist so all of these
23:51
are actually data that you gather
23:54
through research or part of evaluation
23:57
so going back to the question
24:00
specifically about if you work in a
24:01
Community Pharmacy environment some
24:04
Community pharmacist might think
24:05
research has nothing to do with me but
24:08
actually research has everything to do
24:10
with everybody because you know when
24:12
you're dispensing when you're providing
24:15
counseling when you're giving
24:16
vaccination when you're doing medication
24:18
reviews in the pharmacy all of those
24:20
things must follow evidence-based uh
24:23
process and there all these trials that
24:24
are conducted in research uh in
24:26
Community Pharmacy as well so if someone
24:29
is interested in research which they all
24:30
should the first step is participate in
24:33
a research because if they participate
24:35
in a tral let's say if there was a trial
24:38
about getting pharmacist to do diabetes
24:41
related services so if there was a trial
24:45
and the researchers are recruiting
24:48
participants and pharmacies and
24:49
pharmacist volunteer because then the
24:51
pharmacist can get a taste of what
24:54
research feels like and what research
24:56
looks like and then once they get that
24:58
experience that exposure if they feel
25:01
like okay workplace I've got something
25:02
I've got an idea I've got an idea I
25:04
think Pharmacy should be doing more for
25:06
people in terms of compression stocking
25:09
let's say um to help them to prevent DBT
25:11
that just speaking um out loud now um
25:15
then and if if that's the research
25:17
problem that they want to fix but
25:19
they're thinking I don't really know how
25:21
to approach this then of course the
25:23
natural next step is to find an academic
25:26
pharmacist uh who's attached to a
25:29
university to form part of that research
25:31
group because then that academic Farm
25:34
can help to provide guidance on the
25:36
approach so the practicing pharmacist um
25:40
the clinical Community pharmacist might
25:41
have um the clinical problem and the
25:43
outcome of what they want to try and
25:45
Achieve and what problem they want to
25:46
solve but then the academic Farm can
25:50
come in and help provide structure and
25:52
provide guidance about the the approach
25:54
and help with ethics approval um with
25:57
the University
25:58
um helping with the research methodology
26:01
this how we should be conducting this
26:02
help with the write up and that sort of
26:04
stuff so everybody can work
26:06
synergistically and of course that
26:08
Community Farms having done One Pilot
26:10
study is going to know from start to
26:12
finish what all this is about what do we
26:14
need to do we need to have a proposal we
26:16
need to have who do we need to pitch
26:18
this to do we need ethics approval how
26:20
do we gain ethics approval how do we um
26:24
apply for Grants to do certain research
26:26
so we have funding to um remunerate the
26:29
clinicians that are providing the work
26:31
or provide um compensation for or time
26:34
or token of appreciation for
26:36
participants and that sort of stuff how
26:38
do we collect data and feedback from um
26:41
consumers or patients how do we write a
26:43
survey how do we write an interview tool
26:46
how do we transcribe an interview um how
26:49
do we write up so all of those things
26:51
will be a journey for pharmacist to to
26:53
learn and then of course then um because
26:55
this interview it's about you know the
26:57
journal then of course once you've done
26:59
great work you've done the research you
27:01
don't want to keep it just in your
27:02
drawer under your desk you want to
27:04
disseminate that information so go and
27:07
pres go and attend conferences like you
27:09
know for example PSA 23 you know the
27:11
national Flagship conference there's a
27:13
research stream you might want to go
27:14
there and present your findings so
27:16
Pharmacists and researchers can actually
27:19
go oh Ellie you're doing this research
27:21
in this area I'm interested in this can
27:23
we have a chat can we do this also in my
27:26
Pharmacy can I do this also in the other
27:28
workplace how can we work together um
27:31
and if there was an opportunity for you
27:32
to publish your work in writing such as
27:34
you know the the students journal or any
27:37
other um you know there there are a lot
27:39
of other academic Pharmacy journals as
27:41
well the key message I want to
27:42
understand is that pharmacist I know
27:45
I've spoken to a lot of pharms and a lot
27:46
of farm have spoken to me and said oh
27:49
I'm a pharmacist research has nothing to
27:51
do with me I'm not an academic I'm not a
27:52
researcher but actually research has
27:55
everything to do with everybody well
27:57
thank you so much
27:58
now back to you Lisa any last words you
28:01
want to leave with our Pharmacy students
28:03
and early career pharmacists um I would
28:05
say honestly take any opportunity you'd
28:07
get uh when I first started uni I did
28:10
not imagine I would be involved in that
28:12
many things um and I really have no
28:14
regrets every role that I've joined um
28:17
and every position that I've undertaken
28:18
has taught me so much and my passion for
28:21
my profession has grew so much there is
28:24
a lot of potential whether you're a
28:25
student or an early career pharmacist if
28:27
you want to be involved in research do
28:29
it it's very easy to be involved even if
28:32
you're just curious the opportunity is
28:34
there so might as well take it thank you
28:36
for listening to this episode of the
28:38
your Pharmacy career podcast proudly
28:40
brought to you by Raven's Recruitment
28:42
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28:44
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