Research
PHARMACY
Chemotherapy robot
The UK's first robot for compounding chemotherapy is now in use at Charing Cross Hospital's pharmacy department. The robot, Cytocare, is currently being used to make up all doses of 5-fluorouracil, and will soon be extended to include other drugs. Cytocare is a system owned by Health Robotics (Italy) and distributed in the UK by B.Braun. Pharmacy staff at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust have had substantial input into its adaptation for use in the UK NHS. This marks the beginning of a new era for aseptic compounding and is expected to address capacity issues as well as improving the safety, accuracy and workflow of chemotherapy compounding.
Professors Bryony Dean Franklin and Ann Jacklin are on the management committee for the NIHR-funded Imperial Centre for Patient Safety and Service Quality (CPSSQ), and are programme leads for the Design and Technology research stream. The CPSSQ is one of only two such centres in the UK and comprises a highly specialised set of research groups, created with the aim of improving patient safety and the quality of services within the NHS.
Simulation of the hospital pharmacy
A group of researchers, led by Professor Bryony Dean Franklin, have obtained funding to explore the potential for computer simulation to be used to design a more efficient hospital pharmacy department. The research team comprises researchers from University College London and The School of Pharmacy, University of London, as well as pharmacy staff from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.
Pharmacy automated dispensing
Pharmacy departments on all three sites have introduced automated dispensing robots for the selection of medication for individual patients and for ward stock supplies. Pharmacy staff have led a controlled evaluation study of two of these, demonstrating their benefits in reducing selection errors, reducing the time required to pick medication, and increasing staff satisfaction with their work.
A full list of research in Pharmacy can be found at www.cmssq.org
THERAPY SERVICES
High quality healthcare relies on active research. In Therapy Services we want the treatments we offer to be based on sound evidence that demonstrates effectiveness, acceptability to patients and can be feasibly incorporated into clinical healthcare.
All areas of Therapy Services are involved in research at one level or another. All staff will regularly review new research being published to keep make sure what we do is in line with the best in the world. Staff also carry out research into areas where there is a lack of clear evidence, including designing and undertaking world leading experimental trials to test new treatments. All our research is strongly linked to improving the care we give to patients.
We have 6 key themes for our research programme. These are:
1. Service Development
This includes resaerch that test new service design, new devices or treatments, or evaluate current services for quality and efficacy.
2. Patient Experience
Research in this theme will explore the patients' experience of health services or treatments in order to gain a new perspective to lead to service improvements or a better understanding of how to fit services to patients' needs.
3. Musculoskeletal
This theme encompasses all research studying the functioning of the musculoskeletal systems in health, injury and disease. Our key researcher in this theme is Dr Caroline Alexander.
4. Nutrition
Research in this theme will cover the appropriate dietary treatment for health and disease and also for the prevention of disease. Projects may also explore underlying mechanisms linked to over and under nutrition. Key researchers in this theme are Professor Gary Frost and Dr Mary Hickson.
5. Dysphagia
Dysphagia is an area where we have done considerable research to date and this will continue to be a key research area. It will include treatment and identification of dysphagia and related nutritional, physical and social consequences of dysphagia.
6. Pain
This broad theme will encourage research into the causes and treatment of pain at various stages in life and pain related to different conditions. Work in this theme may link to the patient experience and musculoskeletal themes.
