Mark Gilchrist
Contact Details
Charing Cross Hospital, Pharmacy Department, Fulham Palace Road, London W6 8RF
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Telephone: +44 (0) 7711 829 531
- mark.gilchrist@imperial.nhs.uk
Background
Mark trained in Glasgow before moving to London in 2001 to embark on a career in hospital pharmacy. In 2004, following his hospital residency and general rotations, Mark started to specialise in Infection and critical care and took up the post of Lead Pharmacist for Infectious Diseases within Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (ICHNT) in 2007. Postgraduate education includes an MSc and independent prescribing status. Mark is involved with post graduate anti-infective education and in May 2011, took up the post of Deputy Pharmacy Manager within London Bridge Hospital where he is keen to promote and develop new pharmacy initiatives between public and private healthcare.
Research Interests
- Antibiotic stewardship
- Critical care
- Quality improvement
- Outpatient Parenteral Antibiotic Therapy (OPAT)
Mark is involved with an NIHR CLAHRC project examining anti-infective prescribing within ICHNT and Ealing Hospitals NHS Trust and currently leads the development of an OPAT database as part of the British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC) UK OPAT Initiative.
Current Research Themes
Use of antibiotic indicators to drive quality improvement
At any given time, a third of hospital inpatients will be receiving an antibiotic. Whilst appropriate use can be lifesaving, inappropriate prescribing can increase morbidity, mortality and lengths of hospital stay for patients, and encourage the spread of antibiotic resistant organisms. Antibiotic prescribing policies attempt to address this, yet our current methods of assessing compliance with these are labour-intensive, limited in scope and are not timely.
The antibiotic quality improvement project (AQIP) aims to develop methods of collecting and sharing data on adherence to antibiotic policy with prescribers and other clinicians, in ‘real time’, using existing resources. Practitioners can use these indicator data to benchmark practice, seek continual improvement, and improve antibiotic policy compliance, with the overall goal to provide assurance on quality use of antibiotics. Furthermore, the project will investigate ways of sharing this information with patients and carers.
Publications
- Thakkar K, Gilchrist M et al (2011). A quality improvement programme to increase compliance with an anti-infective prescribing policy. J. Antimicrob. Chemother. dkr207 advance access 4th June 2011.
- Gilchrist M, Franklin BD and Patel J (2008). An Outpatient Parenteral Antibiotic Therapy (OPAT) map to identify risks associated with an OPAT service. J. Antimicrob. Chemother. , 62: 177-183.
Relevant Links:
http://www.clahrc-northwestlondon.nihr.ac.uk/
