Critical Care Pharmacotherapy

Program Description:

The critical care pharmacotherapy fellowship program, offered by School of Pharmacy at Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) and Sina Hospital, is a new program whose primary goal is to provide ICU pharmacists with the skills necessary to monitor pharmacotherapy-related interventions posed in every day clinical practice through the design, implementation and evaluation of the methodologically-sound studies. The fellowship program will integrate didactic training, clinical experience and active participation in the development and completion of original research studies in the critically-ill patient populations. Development of laboratory-based analytical skills and proficiency in pharmacokinetic data analysis are additional major goals of this fellowship program. Research participation will account for more than 50% of the fellow's activities.

Over the course of the two-year program, the fellow will be expected to assume responsibility for developing 2-3 research proposals for which he or she will act as the principal researcher. Through these proposals, the fellow will gain experience at protocol development including methodological and statistical design considerations, budget preparation, the IRB submission process, grantsmanship, patient enrollment including obtainment of informed consent, chart documentation and adverse event reporting, appropriate study record keeping and data analysis. The fellow will also collaborate (in a co-researcher capacity) with the preceptor, other residents and fellows, and researchers outside the department in the design and implementation of several additional research proposals.

While independent research is the primary focus of the program, the fellow will also be exposed to multi-center Phase II, III and IV studies in terms of patient enrollment, case report documentation and IRB-related documentation. The fellow will be responsible for the preparation and submission of their research results for national presentation in the form of platform and/or poster presentation in addition to subsequent preparation and submission of a manuscript to an appropriate peer-reviewed journal for publication. He or she will have the opportunity to didactically teach pharmacy and medical resident students and other health care professionals and to precept both pharmacy residents and Pharm.D. students during their ICU rotation.