Feasibility of pharmacists to contribute to multicenter emergency medicine research

Objectives: A flexible, rapid, and scalable multicenter network is needed for pharmacotherapy research in emergency medicine (EM). The objective of this study was to evaluate the types of studies EM pharmacists are willing to conduct in multicenter research. Methods: This was a cross-sectional national survey conducted in the United States. The survey was developed using an iterative process to establish face and content validity. Members of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy EM Practice and Research Network were invited to complete the survey using Research Electronic Data Capture. Online consent was obtained prior to survey completion. The survey consisted of 14 questions, which was expected to take less than 5 minutes to complete. Data were descriptively evaluated. Results: There were a total of 637 potentially eligible participants for the survey. Of these, 98 completed the survey (15% response rate). In terms of types of studies, 91 (93%) would participate in studies involving retrospective acquisition of data, 83 (85%) in observational studies not requiring patient consent, 48 (49%) in observational studies involving a patient consent procedure, and 26 (27%) in implementing and conducting a clinical trial. Overall, 85 (87%) would participate without funding and 66 (67%) would participate without receiving authorship. Conclusions: A substantial number of EM pharmacists are willing to participate in multicenter research. The number of participants decreases without provision of authorship or for studies involving patient consent.