Carer and family involvement in decision making around medicines use within virtual ward settings

Shared decision making is a collaborative process that involves a person and their healthcare professional(s) working together to reach a joint decision about care. In 2021, NICE guidance recommended how to make shared-decision making part of routine care in all settings. The recommendations suggest that, where appropriate, caregivers can be part of shared-decision making. While guidance suggests involving caregivers in shared-decision making, it is unclear how this should be achieved within primary care relating to medicines. In parallel, virtual wards (also known as hospital at home) provide hospital level care at home and are a developing area of care and research. Little is known regarding shared-decision making around medicines use within the virtual ward setting. This is further the case when a patient has a family member or friend who acts as a carer and supports them in their medicines use within the virtual ward setting. This area will form the basis for the PhD.

This PhD will focus on exploring the factors at individual, organisational and systems level that impact the involvement of family and cares in decision making around medicines use within virtual ward settings. Involving people with lived experience in the design of the study and also at analysis and designing implementation is a key part of the PhD. The lead supervisor has established links with local carer groups to help with this. The proposed methods would be qualitative in-depth interviews with patients, carers, and healthcare professionals, however depending on the candidate’s expertise, mixed methods could also be used. This project would be suitable for a student with a health, social science or humanities background such as sociology, psychology, pharmacy or nursing.