Beacon Hospital has signed a strategic partnership with RCSI which sees the hospital becoming an associated teaching faculty partner to the RCSI School of Pharmacy.

The aim of the partnership is to enhance patient care through the delivery of practice-based research and audit, reflective of the priorities of Beacon Pharmacy Department. RCSI will leverage its significant research experience to ensure that projects undertaken are of clinical/scientific merit and suitable for publication.

RCSI pharmacy students will be afforded the opportunity to undertake experiential learning in a clinical setting under the tutelage and direction of experienced pharmacy practitioners at the Beacon Hospital where students will enhance their clinical pharmacy knowledge and experience.

The RCSI School of Pharmacy will facilitate the development of educational content and training programmes to address the educational needs of members of the pharmacy staff at the Beacon Hospital. Opportunities for collaborative translational research between RCSI and the Beacon Hospital will be exploited and directed at improving patient outcomes and experience through enhancing the evidence base underpinning pharmacy services provided at the Beacon Hospital.

Speaking at the announcement, Michael Cullen, CEO of the Beacon Hospital, said: “Our strategic partnership will significantly enhance and strengthen the advancement of collaborative research opportunities between RCSI and the Beacon Hospital. Ultimately the aim of our partnership is to enhance and improve patient outcomes while giving RCSI pharmacy undergraduates invaluable clinical experience working with our experienced pharmacy department here at the hospital.”

Professor Hannah McGee, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, RCSI, said: “This partnership will enable our pharmacy students to witness a collaborative approach to care and will provide our students with greater access to bedside teaching, to learn from the multidisciplinary ethos of the Beacon Hospital and to facilitate research opportunities for the hospital and the College. I propose that the principal beneficiaries of this new joint venture will be our patients and that will justify our future endeavours together as we embark on this new journey.”