Contact

• workApplied Health Research Building
  University Park
  Nottingham
  NG7 2RD
  UK
• Sarah.Rodgers@nottingham.ac.uk
• https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/primis/

Biography

Dr Sarah Rodgers has worked as a researcher for over 30 years and was part of the academic team that developed and tested a pharmacist-led, IT-based intervention to reduce medication error in primary care (PINCER). Her main research interest is the investigation of the prevalence of medication errors in primary care and the evaluation of interventions aimed at reducing medication errors. In August 2019, with funding from the Health Foundation, she was seconded from her role as Principal Research Fellow to PINCER National Programme Manager to work with PRIMIS and the AHSN Network on the national rollout of PINCER to GP practices in England. In April 2022, she was appointed to the new role of Head of Research Services at PRIMIS to support academics and researchers to realise the benefits of using primary care data to inform healthcare innovation and improvement.

Expertise Summary

1. Undertaking primary care research using qualitative and quantitative research methods.
2. Providing training and educational resources to support quality improvement activities.
3. Evaluating healthcare quality improvement.
4. Providing consultancy advice on the availability and accessibility of data within primary care and methods for extracting data from GP clinical systems.
5. Advising on the design of research studies involving the use of data from primary care.
6. Providing support through local approval processes for information governance and use of technology.
7. Partnering with commercial and other organisations on the deployment of digital tools in their software solutions.
8. Providing guidance on the scale and spread of healthcare innovations.

Teaching Summary

Dr Rodgers has supervised PhD students in topics relating to prescribing and patient safety.

Research Summary

Dr Sarah Rodgers's main research interest is prescribing safety in primary care. This includes:

1. Understanding the nature and frequency of avoidable significant harm in primary care.
2. Avoiding patient harm through the application of prescribing safety indicators.
3. The role of pharmacists in promoting safe and effective prescribing in general practice.
4. Identifying ways in which computer systems can be developed and improved to support safe prescribing in primary care.

Prizes and awards

• Awarded Highly Commended in the category of Delivering an Innovation in Health and Care at the Medilink Business Awards March 2023 for the PINCER Intervention
• Awarded Highly Commended in the John Perry Prize by the British Computer Society's Primary Health Care Specialist Group in October 2021 for the PINCER programme of work.
• Co-authored the paper "Incidence, nature and causes of avoidable significant harm in primary care in England: retrospective case note review" by AJ Avery et al. which was included in the British Medical Journal Quality & Safety top 10 articles of 2020.
• Co-authored the paper "Processing discharge summaries in general practice: a qualitative interview study with GPs and practice managers" by RA Spencer et al. which made number three in the British Journal of General Practice Open top 10 most read papers of 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLdGMMNBt4A
• Winner of the North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG) Chicago, Illinois US best international paper of 2018
• Regional winner in 'The Excellence in Primary Care Award' category of the 2018 NHS70 Parliamentary Awards and shortlisted for the national award
• Awarded NIHR School for Primary Care Research Postdoctoral Fellowship 2012 - 2015
• Winner of the prize plenary, SAPC Annual Conference 7-9 July 2010 UEA, Norwich
• Winner of the BJCP best paper of the year prize 2006 for the following publication: "Clayton JA, Rodgers S, Blakey J, Avery A, Hall IP. Thiazide diuretic prescription and electrolyte abnormalities in primary care. Br J Clin Pharmacol 2006; 61(1): 87-95."

Membership of Committees and Professional Bodies

Society for Academic Primary Care (SAPC)