As the ACCP Annual Meeting approaches, we want to share with you an update of the activities and success of the Research Institute. Thank you for supporting the ACCP Research Institute.

MEDAP Study Now Recruiting ACCP PBRN Members

The Medication Error Detection, Amelioration, and Prevention (MEDAP) Study was launched on August 5, 2010. Join members from sites across the country as we work toward logging the greatest number of clinical pharmacist interventions related to medication errors. This is the sentinel feasibility project for the ACCP PBRN and is funded by the Frontiers Fund.

Frequently Asked Questions about the MEDAP Study

What is the purpose of the MEDAP Study?

The purpose of the MEDAP Study is to gather information regarding interventions clinical pharmacists make across the country that are related to medication error detection, amelioration, and prevention.

What would I be asked to do in the MEDAP Study?

The ACCP PBRN pharmacist is the study subject for the MEDAP Study. Each participating pharmacist will be asked to collect data about any intervention made pertaining to medication errors during a consecutive 14-day period. For each intervention related to a medication error detection, prevention, or amelioration during these 14 days, the pharmacist will be asked a series of questions. For example, data will be collected about the type of error (or prevented error), the intervention(s) made, the medication(s) involved, and the patient outcome(s), if known. However, only de-identified patient information will be collected.

Is the MEDAP Study IRB approved?

Yes, the AAFP (American Academy of Family Physicians) IRB has reviewed and approved the study. All IRB-related documents are available on PBRNConnect.

How do I join the MEDAP Study?

First, you must join the ACCP PBRN. Go to accpri.org to join by answering questions related to you, your practice site, and the clinical services you provide. You can complete the registry tool from within PBRNConnect (www.accpri.org/pbrnconnect).

I’ve joined the ACCP PBRN. What else do I need to do?

Once you join the registry, you need to complete a portfolio with PBRNConnect so that you can participate in any PBRN project (www.accpri.org/pbrnconnect).

What is PBRNConnect?

The ACCP PBRN has created a one-stop resource for all PBRN-related materials called PBRNConnect. Located at www.accpri.org/pbrnconnect, this resource allows ACCP PBRN members to view, print, and download all research and PBRN-related documents. In addition, PBRNConnect will serve as a repository for all PBRN-related training. Moreover, each ACCP PBRN member will need to upload his/her own portfolio documents within the secure PBRNConnect site to be eligible to participate in ACCP PBRN studies. ACCP PBRN members access this site using their usual ACCP.com log-in.

How do I get my MEDAP Study log-in and password?

All eligible ACCP PBRN members who have completed all required steps within PBRNConnect will receive a unique Discovere user name and password through e-mail.

What are the anticipated study dates for the MEDAP Study?

How will I be trained to do ACCP PBRN–related projects?

All training materials may be accessed online on PBRNConnect. Before entering any study data, pharmacists will be asked to watch the two new training videos located at www.accpri.org/pbrnconnect. There, you will find the brief Module 3: Introduction to Discovere, and under step 4, you will find MEDAP Study Training Module. You can also print the new MEDAP PocketGuide to help you with data collection at your clinical practice site.

I have more questions. Where can I send them?

Contact us at [email protected] with any questions. Thank you.

Contributing Members of the ACCP PBRN Registry

The ACCP PBRN is grateful for the individual contributions of the following clinical pharmacists, who granted permission to include their data for analysis in the manuscript titled “Characterizing the American College of Clinical Pharmacy Practice-Based Research Network (ACCP PBRN)” as published in Pharmacotherapy 2010;30:264e–273e. The manuscript and list of all contributing members are available at http://www.accpri.org/pbrn/index.aspx.

The ACCP PBRN continues to grow since its launch in February 2009. We have more than 600 members to date, including members who have joined through existing PBRNs and whose data are not shown below. We encourage each of you to join.

Be a Big Shot—Donate Onsite to the Frontiers Fund

You, too, can “Be a Big Shot” by making a personal contribution in 2010 to the Frontiers Fund. On-site donations of $100 will receive this unique and useful gift: a 1-gb flash drive on a lanyard.

Your tax-deductible donation will…

• develop researchers,
• build a research network called the ACCP Practice-Based Research Network (ACCP PBRN), and
• generate evidence

... to further document the value of clinical pharmacy services and advance pharmacy research. If you are attending the Annual Meeting in Austin, plan to visit us at the Research Institute booth located by the registration desk. You can also make online donations at http://www.accpri.org.

Frontiers Fund

Focused Investigator Training (FIT) Program Success: More Than $2 Million in New Grant Monies Received

This program works! The amount of new grant funding for the 18 participants in the 2008 FIT Class exceeds $2.1 million. Grants include various K and R awards as well as industry grants.

Are you an experienced researcher, perhaps at the associate or professor level, who has simply not yet received that big federal grant as a principal investigator?

Submit your proposal to the Focused Investigator Training (FIT) Program. There, National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded experts will analyze, dissect, chew on, think about, rehash, and then help you rebuild your proposal during the course of 1 week.

The FIT Program will be held again in June 2011 at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy in Tucson. The FIT Program is an annual, intensive, 1-week, hands-on program for experienced investigators who have not yet been awarded significant peer-reviewed extramural funding as a principal investigator. Through this mentored program, research-track faculty will take necessary steps toward preparing a K, R, or similar investigator-initiated application for submission to the NIH or other major funding source. Online applications open on January 1, 2011, and close on April 1, 2011.

We thank the Ambulatory Care and Adult Medicine PRNs for offering tuition scholarships to 2010 FIT attendees. The Research Institute encourages all PRNs to consider this professional development opportunity for its members.