The New England Pharmacy Community Research Network (NE PCRN), a collaboration of the “7Ps,” pharmacists, pharmacy researchers, pharmacies, prescribers, patients, payers, and policy makers, works together and with other stakeholders to advance and enhance pharmacy research and patient care, resulting in improved patient outcomes.
Who can get involved?
The NE PCRN welcomes the following to join the initiative:
• Caregivers
• Agencies and Associations involved in community pharmacy advocacy
• All types of pharmacy practices (e.g. independent, chain, grocery, outpatient hospital systems and beyond)
• Any stakeholder interested in enhancing and advancing community pharmacy practice
Why a PCRN?
As the most trusted and accessible healthcare professionals, pharmacists can have a huge impact on adherence, preventative care, healthcare costs, and patient outcomes.
Founded in 2015 by UConn Professor Nathaniel Rickles, Pharm.D., Ph.D., BCPP, in collaboration with a researcher development organization, Pro-Cure Health Design, Inc., with input from the Massachusetts Pharmacists Association, the NE PCRN, a partner of UConn’s PRISM (PeRformance Improvement for Safe Medication Management), provides a structured community by which to identify mutual interests, develop fundable grant proposals, conduct quality research, and disseminate the findings amongst the group and to the broader healthcare system.
Where Do Project Ideas Come From?
Ideas can come from researchers, public health officials, funders or insurers, or from front line pharmacists. The NE PCRN relies on pharmacists’ insights into potential strategies for improved patient care and to refine research ideas for practicality and maximum impact before they are implemented.
NE PCRN Projects Can Include the following and more:
• Quality Improvement
• Patient Care/Education
• Medication Safety
• Management, Operations and Efficiency
• Multidisciplinary, Cross-Cultural, and Interprofessional Teams
– Patient-Centered Medical Homes (PCMHs)
– Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs)
– Community-Based Health Teams
• Expanded and Advanced Pharmacist Services
• Payment Reform and Billing
• Pharmacy Benefits
What Does Membership Mean for Me and My Pharmacy?
Membership says that you have made a personal investment into sculpting the future of pharmacy practice and research. It offers access to projects that can enhance the health and well-being of your patients, supports you in engaging in research (or participating through various means), helps you understand structural and psychological barriers to expanding services, and substantiates the value of pharmacists in all types of practice, so it is visible to payers and policymakers.
Members are part of a community that is available to troubleshoot issues and share best practices as well advance the role and standing of pharmacists as healthcare visionaries and practitioners.
Also, members enjoy professional development, such as grant development training, CE opportunities, and networking.
What does membership mean for me and my pharmacy?
The pharmacists’ role is provider of patient care, and therefore NE PCRN projects are carried out in the real world with little-to-no special research training required. Similarly, projects are designed to fit into workflow and produce results that are relevant and easily translated into everyday practice.
The NE PCRN allows pharmacists and researchers to create and partner in unique initiatives where each gets to do what they do best. Pharmacists leverage their clinical expertise and the respect they have created among patients, to enhance their services, while researchers craft scientific protocols, seek grants, provide analysis, and publish the results so others can benefit. When collaborating, pharmacists and researchers are able to successfully achieve what they otherwise would not alone.
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Form here.