Centre for Medicine Use and Safety
We conduct multidisciplinary research into preventive, acute and chronic care, optimising medication management and patient safety.
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This project relates to Health Economics:
1. Students will be able to define and design the PICOT question.
2. Study design, Markov model in combination with life tables.
3. Capture, cost, benefits of interventions.Research Placement
Undertake a placement of a defined period in an external institution, either domestic or international, gaining experience in a different research environment that will augment your PhD.
Contact
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1. Understanding equity in cardiovascular disease.
2. Assessing the cost-effectiveness of novel pharmacological treatments and designing the distributional cost-effectiveness analysis framework, incorporating equity and ranking interventions based on dominance criteria.
The PhD student will have exposure to world-class health economic modelling techniques and the opportunity to work with the investigator team, primarily supervised by Professor Zanfina Ademi and Dr Jedidiah Morton.Few studies in Australia look at the cost and disease burden by equity. Moreover, few cost-effectiveness analyses include health equity information. Due to public concerns about health equity, economic evaluation techniques are being challenged to incorporate inequalities. This is to not only ensure that healthcare technologies are being delivered appropriately and according to the best available evidence, but also to address the important issue of allocative efficiency, i.e. the efficient distribution of healthcare resources, considering multiple interventions and opportunity costs.
Applying our innovative health economic model, we will attempt to incorporate equity utilising the distributional cost-effectiveness analysis framework. This will allow us to rank scalable interventions based on dominance criteria and analyse trade-offs that can enhance population health and reduce unfair health inequalities.Research Placement
Undertake a placement of a defined period in an external institution, either domestic or international, gaining experience in a different research environment that will augment your PhD.
Contact
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This project will investigate current treatment strategies for managing chronic diseases among residents of aged care facilities, and inform treatment targets in this population. The PhD candidate will undertake advanced pharmacoepidemiological analyses using medication and clinical data collected from numerous local aged care facilities. There will be opportunity to conduct comparative analyses using a large international dataset.
Research Placement
This international project will involve close collaboration between the Centre for Medicine Use and Safety, and researchers from one or more partners in the international Optimising Geriatric Pharmacotherapy through Pharmacoepidemiology Network (OPPEN).
Contact
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The recent Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety has highlighted the need to address high rates of psychotropic medication use. Monash University has been commissioned to produce new Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Appropriate Use of Psychotropic Medications in People Living with Dementia and in Residential Aged Care. The Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) has announced funding for a project that will investigate embedding pharmacists as ‘knowledge brokers’ for implementing the new Clinical Practice Guidelines. The PhD project will involve working as part of the national and multidisciplinary team implementing this MRFF project. The project will provide an excellent understanding of research translation. The project directly addresses the National Health Priority Areas of medication safety and dementia.
Research Placement
Undertake a placement of a defined period in an external institution, either domestic or international, gaining experience in a different research environment that will augment your PhD.
Contact
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Monash University’s Centre for Medicine Use and Safety (CMUS) is partnering with Austin Health to offer a suitably qualified pharmacist the opportunity to undertake PhD research on use of electronic medical record data to optimise medicines use. CMUS works to better understand and optimise medicine use through innovative and challenging research in Australia and around the world. Austin Health, a leading specialist tertiary and quaternary health service, is transforming its digital environment to create a centre in health data analytics. This exciting opportunity will involve enrolling in the Enhanced Doctoral Training Program at Monash University’s Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and part-time employment with Austin Health.
Please contact Professor Simon Bell at Simon.Bell2@monash.edu or Dr David Liew at David.Liew@austin.org.au to express an interest and arrange a discussion.
Research Placement
This international project will involve close collaboration between the Centre for Medicine Use and Safety, and researchers from one or more partners in the international Optimising Geriatric Pharmacotherapy through Pharmacoepidemiology Network (OPPEN).
Contact
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The Centre for Medicine Use and Safety has linked hospital, Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) data for all people discharged from Victorian public and private hospitals from 2012-2018. These data include cohorts of 331,000 people with diabetes, 43,000 people with stroke, 44,000 people with hip fracture and 96,000 people with myocardial infarction. There is an excellent opportunity for a PhD candidate to conduct high quality epidemiological analyses on medication use and health outcomes using one or more of these cohorts. This PhD project will provide training in health data analytics which is becoming increasingly important in research into drug safety and quality use of medications. The project may involve collaborating with international partners through the Neurological and Mental Health Global Epidemiology Network (NeuroGEN).
Research Placement
Undertake a placement of a defined period in an external institution, either domestic or international, gaining experience in a different research environment that will augment your PhD.
Contact
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The project will investigate the relationship between frailty and prescribing of guideline recommended preventative therapies following acute myocardial infarction. The project will also investigate whether frailty impacts the effectiveness of preventive therapies. International studies will employ rich data from the US and/or European health care utilisation databases and novel, state-of-the art research methodology.
Research Placement
This international project will involve close collaboration between the Centre for Medicine Use and Safety, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University and the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). It is anticipated that the PhD candidate will spend between 2 to 6 months of their candidature at UNC working with Assistant Professor Gang Fang. UNC Chapel Hill is the highest ranked pharmacy school in the United States. Professor Fang is a national and internationally renowned expert in pharmacoepidemiology and therapeutic strategies in the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease.
Contact
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The project aims to examine engaging with residents and families to explore the complexities of communicating about medicines that affect the mind, emotions and behaviour in aged care facilities. Many residents are given medicines they do not need. Strategies devised by residents, families and care providers will be tested to identify improvements in how resident and family engagement occurs in medicine decisions. Outcomes will involve developing and testing creative strategies for better communication. Benefits will comprise enhanced engagement with residents and families in making appropriate medicine decisions, which may in turn, reduce health care harm.
The PhD student will gain skills and experience in conducting and analysing interviews, observations of practice, co-design workshops and feasibility studies. In addition, the PhD student will participate as a member of the multidisciplinary team of the project, comprising researchers with expertise in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, aged care, decision-making, co-design and health sociology.Research Placement
Undertake a placement of a defined period in an external institution, either domestic or international, gaining experience in a different research environment that will augment your PhD.
Contact
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Infantile colic is a common and distressing condition for families affecting 1 in 5 infants, with no known causes or a standard therapy. Various remedies including over the counter and complementary medicines and lifestyle modifications have been used over the years, however, with little or no known scientific evidence for efficacy. In this study, the candidate will work with a community pharmacy that specialises in colic treatment and compounds therapy. This PhD project would be a mixed-methods (quantitative and qualitative) study of the effectiveness of this therapy, identifying objective clinical measures and involving family interviews and health care professional surveys.
Research Placement
Undertake a placement of a defined period in an external institution, either domestic or international, gaining experience in a different research environment that will augment your PhD.
Contact
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Monash University’s Centre for Medicine Use and Safety (CMUS) is offering a suitably qualified PhD candidate the opportunity to improve medication safety in aged care.
The PhD candidate will directly address the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care’s (ACSQHC) key priority areas for residential aged care relating to Medication Advisory Committees (MACs), implementing quality improvement indicators and evaluating the role of onsite aged care pharmacists.
Monash University has been awarded a Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) grant to explore an innovative system-level knowledge broker role for onsite aged care pharmacists to improve the quality use of medicines. This three-year project is called Maximising Embedded Pharmacists in aGed cAre Medication Advisory Committees (MEGA-MAC). This project will be led by Professor Simon Bell and Dr Amanda Cross at CMUS.
The MEGA-MAC project aims to develop a sustainable and cost-effective model for onsite aged care pharmacists to act as system level knowledge brokers and work with other health professionals to implement the ACSQHC’s new Guiding Principles for Medication Management in Residential Aged Care Facilities (Guiding Principles).
This provides an ideal research training opportunity for an enthusiastic and diligent PhD candidate to work alongside the MEGA-MAC project. The PhD candidate will have a passion for medication safety, excellent oral and written communication skills and the ability to work as part of a team. A PhD scholarship will be awarded based on academic record, research output and prior research experience. Honours/Masters degree in a healthcare discipline or public health, and an interest in applied research is desirable.
Research Placement
Undertake a placement of a defined period in an external institution, either domestic or international, gaining experience in a different research environment that will augment your PhD.
Contact
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Are you passionate about making research matter in real-world healthcare settings? This PhD project offers an exciting opportunity to explore knowledge translation, clinical guideline implementation, and medication safety, with a focus on closing the evidence-to-practice gap. Despite robust clinical evidence, translating it into consistent practice remains a global challenge. This project will involve mixed methods approaches to develop, implement and evaluate interventions that improve knowledge translation of evidence and guidelines into practice.
You will work as part of the Aged Care Services group at the Centre for Medicine Use and Safety. Our group leads multiple large, national projects and collaborates with national and international aged care providers, health care professionals, consumer representatives, researchers and policy makers.
Ideal candidates will have a background in pharmacy, nursing, public health, or related fields, and a keen interest in improving healthcare delivery. This PhD will equip you with the skills to become a future leader in health research translation and system improvement.
Research Placement
Undertake a placement of a defined period in an external institution, either domestic or international, gaining experience in a different research environment that will augment your PhD.
Contact
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Monash University's Centre for Medicine Use and Safety (CMUS) is collaborating with Melbourne University, Deakin University and University of Newcastle to offer a suitably qualified candidate the opportunity to undertake a project on developing an individualised health promotion programme.
The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), as part of the Boosting Dementia Research Grants Priority Round Five: Dementia Risk Reduction and Prevention, awarded $2 million to Monash University for a study designed to prevent and reduce the risk of developing dementia in 45-65-year-old adults. The program is called Holistic Approach in Primary care for Preventing Memory Impairment and Dementia (HAPPI MIND).
The project is led by Dr Johnson George at CMUS at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences. The program will involve three monthly face-to-face or telephone meetings with the practice nurse, a personalised risk reduction action plan, and referral to targeted additional interventions as needed.
HAPPI MIND provides an ideal research training opportunity for an enthusiastic and diligent candidate with excellent communication skills (both written and verbal), attention to detail and ability to work as part of a team. The three year scholarship will be awarded based on academic record, research output and prior research experience. Honours/Masters degree in a Healthcare discipline or Public Health or Psychology, and an interest in applied research is essential.
Research Placement
Undertake a placement of a defined period in an external institution, either domestic or international, gaining experience in a different research environment that will augment your PhD.
Contact
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A randomised controlled trial of a telehealth intervention, a systematic review of telehealth interventions in children, stakeholder interviews and a pharmacoeconomic evaluation of the telehealth intervention will be carried out as part of the PhD project.
Research Placement
This project will be interdisciplinary in nature with the involvement of respiratory physicians, engineers and pharmacists. The PhD student will have opportunities to work for short durations at the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Austin Health and the Royal Children’s Hospital.
Contact
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COPD management in Australian primary care is well below recommended standards, with under-diagnosis of individuals with airway obstruction and also under-treatment, including provision of smoking cessation support. The proposed work will be a cohort study involving participants from a primary care intervention study targeting long-terms smokers and case findings.
Research Placement
This project will be interdisciplinary in nature with the involvement of respiratory physicians, GPs and pharmacists. The PhD student will have opportunities to work for short durations at the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine which is home for many large Australian cohorts.
Contact
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Evidence regarding the efficacy and safety of medicines is mainly derived from randomised controlled trials (RCTs). However, in real life medicines are often prescribed to patients who would have been excluded from participating in RCTs due to factors such as age, multimorbidity, or concomitant medicine treatment. This project will investigate the ‘real world’ use and safety of newly marketed medicines. Data will be sourced from national and international prescription claims databases. This will include data from the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). This project will apply novel pharmacoepidemiological research methods.
Research Placement
This international project will involve close collaboration between the Centre for Medicine Use and Safety, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University and the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). It is anticipated that the PhD candidate will spend between 2 to 6 months of their candidature at UNC working with Assistant Professor Gang Fang. UNC Chapel Hill is the highest ranked pharmacy school in the United States. Professor Fang is a national and internationally renowned expert in pharmacoepidemiology and therapeutic strategies in the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease.
Contact
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