Smooth seas don’t make for skilled sailors (or researchers)
Sophie De Rota
BPharm, MSHP | Rotational Pharmacist, Canberra Health Services
[Pharmacy GRIT article no: 20241403]
Completing the residency quality improvement project was challenging for me as I had minimal prior experience in research, and I felt very out of practice as it seemed like decades had passed since I finished university. The first challenge was knowing what to do and how to do it; where do I even start? Luckily, I had my colleagues and project supervisor to guide me. Unfortunately, this also meant that progression of my project relied heavily on other people’s timelines: waiting for a meeting that fits all parties’ schedules, waiting for committees to meet, waiting for data to become available. With a deadline to meet, it was stressful to spend valuable time waiting. After a couple of failed attempts at projects due to colleagues who were offered exciting employment opportunities elsewhere, I was finally able to get a project on the road.
Halfway through my residency program, my workplace rolled out the Digital Health Record (DHR) across the health service. Things were chaotic for a while as we adapted to the new system and we were required to put non-essential work on hold, which ate into some of the time I had remaining to carry out my project. The launch of DHR also had the potential to introduce confounding into current research projects, as the new system impacted patient care in many ways. However, while challenging, there were also some positive aspects to this change: we had the option to compare pre- and post-DHR data, which some of my residency colleagues chose to do for their projects. Due to my first project plans falling through, I was lucky that my next project could utilise DHR to streamline data collection.
Completing my project provided me with valuable experiences such as designing a research proposal and the satisfaction of bringing those plans to life. I also learned how to complete an ethics application, which I had never done before. These skills will help me with any upcoming research projects I may participate in. I strengthened my ability to work both as part of a team and independently. I have a new-found level of respect for my colleagues who have successfully completed projects and presented their findings at conferences or in publications. Knowing how much work can go into a project and the level of persistence required to finish one makes this accomplishment commendable.
My resilience was tested due to bumps along the road, but I learned to be flexible and adaptable — great qualities to possess for a career in hospital pharmacy — and developed a newfound confidence in myself. I am excited to have completed this project and to have emerged with useful skills and a practical understanding of the quality improvement process. Moving forward, I feel ready to pursue future research projects. While I hope that they will go more smoothly than this one, if they don’t, I know that I can get through it.