Project Management
Agencies don't often entrust their projects to freelancers, but it can work.
Case study - CPPE open learning
The Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education, based at Manchester University, is responsible for meeting the continuing educational needs of pharmacists in primary and secondary care. I have project-managed, written and edited several large distance learning projects in hard copy, CD-ROM and video formats.
In 2004 it was diabetes. CPPE wanted to update their resources, which were years out of date. I led a team of nurses and pharmacists, agreed the content and timetable, wrote a couple of chapters and edited their contributions. The first draft was piloted and reviewed by a senor physician and I incorporated further comments.
The diabetes project was conceived as a hard copy format but it was also made available on CPPE's website, where it was supported by a series of interviews with people with diabetes and health professionals. I produced the video and supervised the editing.
This was a mammoth task, taking over a year from conception to publication, but the result was a quality practice-oriented learning programme.
As well as diabetes, I've project-managed, edited and co-written courses on asthma and COPD, prescribing support in primary care and complementary therapies. For a few years I wrote and produced an annual video and workbook on new products. In 2002, CPPE commissioned me to produce the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's video on CPD, which it distributed to every pharmacist in the country.