Using Field Studies to Value-Add in Pharmacoepidemiology

‎1. Course Aim ‎
Field studies encompass a diverse range of research methods including surveys, interviews and ‎observation. Performing field studies in pharmacoepidemiology is most appropriate when information ‎is not captured in databases or when large databases are not available. An example is the patient ‎perspective in using medicines where often little or no data is available in databases. This course ‎provides basic theory and practical tips in conducting field studies in pharmacoepidemiology. We ‎cover study designs, qualitative, quantitative as well as mixed-methods approaches. The hands-on ‎experience via a workshop will expose course participants to different scenarios about safety and ‎utilization of medicines from different settings across the world. Participants will be actively engaged ‎in discussing the choices to be made when designing a field study to address a specific research ‎question. They will bring in their own research experience, the knowledge on medicine use from their ‎health care system and setting and learn from each other. We will wrap up by summarising the added ‎value field studies have in pharmacoepidemiology. ‎

‎2. Requisites Statement ‎
Basic knowledge of pharmacoepidemiology required. No mandatory pre-course preparation ‎necessary.‎

‎3. Course Objectives‎
• To describe an overview of study designs, specifically qualitative, quantitative and mixed-‎methods approaches, in pharmacoepidemiology field research
• To discuss scenarios in pharmacoepidemiology research which require field studies ‎
• To examine strengths and limitations of different study designs and data collection methods, in ‎particular considering how to capture patient experiences in medicine use
• To identify strategies to improve quality and reliability of field studies ‎

‎4. Syllabus Outline‎
We start with four short lectures covering the following questions: ‎
‎1.‎ What are field studies? Where and when to use field studies in pharmacoepidemiology ‎research? What are the experiences across the globe? ‎
‎2.‎ Which methods are used in field research? An overview of qualitative, quantitative and ‎mixed-methods approaches in field studies.‎
‎3.‎ How can we elicit the patient’s lived experience with medicines in field research? ‎
The workshop will be the core of the course addressing: What choices have to be made in field ‎studies? And we will conclude the course with the wrap up question summarising: What is the added ‎value of field research in pharmacoepidemiology? ‎