Trinity’s School of Pharmacy and St Vincent’s University Hospital sign MOU

Posted on: 06 December 2017

The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Trinity and the Pharmacy Department at St. Vincent’s University Hospital (SVUH) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreement.

This MOU provides a solid basis for;

• Co-operation in establishing teaching, research and clinical links and providing a suitable environment for undergraduate and postgraduate training and education in Pharmacy
• Co-operation in facilitating professional development in Pharmacy
• Encouraging research opportunities
• Mutual collaboration for the provision of excellence in patient care.

Speaking at the official signing of the MOU, Mr. Paul Tighe, Head of Pharmacy Services at SVUH said:

“We have a long and established relationship Trinity’s School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.  Seventeen of our pharmacists are graduates of the Trinity Pharmacy Degree programme and nine of our staff are graduates of the Trinity M.Sc. in Hospital Pharmacy programme. We look forward to having two pharmacists commence the M.Sc. course in January 2018.  Research projects completed by our postgraduate and undergraduate students have been a way for us to evaluate and develop our services, and we value the guidance, support and expertise provided by the staff in Trinity College Dublin”.

The School of Pharmacy in Trinity has links with the Pharmacy Department in St. Vincent’s spanning a period of over twenty years. This started initially with a small number of students undertaking vacation work experience and evolved into co-supervised research projects with Senior Sophister students, which continue to this day.  The SVUH pharmacy department also assists the School by hosting Senior Sophister students undertaking a Medication History Taking exercise. On the postgraduate front, when the MSc in Hospital Pharmacy began in 1996, St. Vincent’s University Hospital was one of the five Dublin Area Teaching Hospitals that helped to establish it.

In relation to research collaborations – clinical audits, medication safety, pharmacokinetics, patient information, antiviral drug selection, antibiotic stewardship have all been areas in which work has been undertaken and presented nationally, and also published in international peer reviewed journals. Recently, a new collaboration in palliative care has begun, and next year a PhD student will commence a project, to be co-supervised by Associate Professor Sheila Ryder, Practice of Pharmacy at Trinity and Claire Keane, SVUH Chief 2 Pharmacist Education and Formulary, exploring optimisation of discharge prescribing and associated care processes.

Professor Anne Marie Healy, Head of the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Trinity added: “The formative education of pharmacists, their continuing professional development, innovation in pharmacy practice and clinical research – these are all predicated on co-operation between clinical sites and universities. We hope to build on our existing collaborations with St. Vincent’s University Hospital Pharmacy Department in a number of these areas and this Memorandum of Understanding signals that intent. We were delighted to acknowledge Claire Keane’s many fine contributions by awarding her the title of Clinical Lecturer. It is fitting, that in tandem with the signing of this MOU, we should recognise the input of key staff here in both teaching and research by awarding them also with academic titles. We will be working with St. Vincent’s University Hospital in the coming weeks to put in place such titles for others in the pharmacy team”.

Welcoming the signing of the formal MOU and speaking also at the event, Professor Michael Keane Acting CEO SVUH said: “We envisage that this MOU will foster collaboration between academic and practice based pharmacy staff in St. Vincent’s and Trinity College Dublin to teach and develop pharmacists who can care for our most complex, hospitalised patients, and to develop and improve hospital pharmacy services”. 

Professor Mary McCarron, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Trinity commented: “For St. Vincent’s University Hospital Pharmacy Department and the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences the challenges to providing higher quality care and education while also carrying out relevant and novel research are growing. We know that we share the same approach and the same values and that our track record of unbroken, fruitful collaboration for over two decades stands us in good stead. We look forward to establishing a closer working relationship in all of these areas and to starting new ventures and projects together”.