Lindsay Parkin

I currently work as an Academic Practitioner at Sunderland University, I have previous experience as a clinical pharmacist and spent many years working in critical and emergency care.

I became involved with this project when Gemma approached me about an idea she had had!  My involvement comes from my experience and current role in secondary care.  As the co-lead investigator I am here to support and work with Gemma to develop the study with my knowledge and experience of unlicensed medicines in a hospital setting, as well as in the data collection and analysis.

Given that most of my career has been very clinically focused the idea of being involved with and embarking in research was a very unknown and daunting prospect.  So why did I decide to become involved?

• Research is an area I want to become involved with, prior to this I had helped with the set- up of clinical trials within the hospital but had never been through the full process associated with research.

• This study provides a huge opportunity to learn how to go through the research process:
  • Applying for funding
  • How to develop a research idea
  • Where you can find help and support
  • Who needs to be involved in the development of the study from financial help to the support from Anne as our PPI.
  • Research and Development approval – not just through IRAS but from all organisations involved!
  • Looking after a budget
  • How to carry out the data collection and analysis
  • And many more…

So far, this has been a long process, but it is essential to get the detail right and to make sure that all scenarios are considered and discussed.  The learning curve has been steep (especially given my very limited research experience alongside the fact this is a qualitative research project!), but, I have been very fortunate to be able to attend a number of training courses (which we will blog about as well), have had the support of a good team for advice and guidance each step of the way, as well as supportive staff in the hospital setting.  I am very much looking forward to when we can start our data collection and find out what people think, know and feel about the use of unlicensed medicines and putting our training courses in to practice.