Professional courses
Dr. Ed England
Pharmacy (D Pharm)
Place of Employment & Job Title
Medicines and Equipment Manager, South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust
What made you decide to come to the University of Portsmouth to study the Professional Doctorate?
The course gave me the opportunity to develop professionally at a pace that was flexible enough to balance my work and home life, together with the opportunity to undertake a practice research project in an area of personal interest.
How did you find the course?
I enjoyed the whole course. Part 1 gave me the opportunity to develop projects which were of direct relevance to my work, so the work load was not too arduous. The publications unit gave me the confidence to write articles, and I now write one or two a year.
Part 2 took me a long time to complete, as I changed jobs twice. However the course enabled me to undertake a project of personal interest, and that is what kept me going to completion!
What was your project title?
How patients with osteoporosis understand the local decision making process for medicines and guidelines
How do you think this course has helped you to develop your career in your profession?
My job roles have changed since starting the course, however I think the biggest change for me is the confidence gained from the professional development, and recognising that development in myself.
Dr Vanessa Marvin
Pharmacy (DPharm)
Place of Employment & Job Title
Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Deputy Chief Pharmacist – Clinical Services
What made you decide to come to the University of Portsmouth to study the Professional Doctorate?
Originally, the appeal was the idea of being taught how to achieve doctorate level in my own area of interest. If I had attempted to undertake a part-time PhD degree without the backup and full support of a university department, I think I would still be ‘on the research bench’
How did you find the course?
Part of my role in my previous post was education and training. I had always kept in touch with what was available in postgraduate teaching at Portsmouth and tutored students on the MSc in Clinical Pharmacy. I was therefore sent details of the new Professional Doctorate course in pharmacy as it was then, by Dr Jane Portlock and followed it up for myself!
What was your project title?
A prospective cohort study of patients started on parenteral nutrition; their biochemical markers and risk factors for refeeding hypophosphataemia.
How do you think this course has helped you to develop your career in your profession?
It helped me in many ways. I began to feel I really was an expert in my field and had reached the top of clinical pharmacy. I gained confidence in dealing with a specialist area where, without projects like mine getting written up and disseminated, knowledge about the topic came from making clinical decisions one patient at a time. There is very little in the form of clinical guidance available.
We rely on expertise and I feel I have added to this and passed it on to others. I have become a more reflective practitioner and this helps enormously with documenting CPD for the pharmacy profession. Finally, at the end of the course, with my certificate freshly framed and mounted I knew I was at a crossroads and needed to move to something new now or never (I had been in post for 20 years!).
When my current post was advertised as heading up pharmacy clinical services and research, I knew it was for me and beat off seven other candidates. The interview questions and presentation were all about action research! I could not have done it without the Professional Doctorate in Portsmouth! Thank you!