There is increasing recognition that use of some medication, especially as people get older or more ill, can cause more harm than good. Harm due to medication is especially seen when patients transition between care settings, e.g. from the hospital setting to the primary care setting. The group of Dr. Karapinar-Çarkit is currently looking for a Postdoctoral Scientist focusing on medication safety and transitional pharmaceutical care. Her research group aims to understand:

• How to reduce potential preventable harm caused by medication, e.g. adverse drug events post discharge, emergency department visits, readmissions, prescribing cascades (i.e. an unrecognized side effect resulting in another medication prescription).
• How to empower patients with different health literacy levels, e.g. using teach back, using alarm symptoms for cardiovascular patients, medicines helplines.
• How to collaborate within the continuum of care, e.g. using warm transfer at hospital discharge, collaboration platforms with healthcare professionals in primary care, deprescribing, medication reconciliation or medication review.
• How to use data-driven methods and techniques to predict clinical phenomena or patients at risk for unwanted outcomes, e.g. using machine learning or text mining (rule-based and/or natural language processing).

The overall aim of this post is to increase medication safety for elderly patients with cardiovascular diseases. We are looking for creative thinkers who are prepared to take on challenging aims. This position is ideally suited to a researcher with experience in patient safety or health services research or pharmacoepidemiology and ambition to work on optimizing medication safety. The work will suit highly ambitious candidates, who like to solve problems, and are at ease with timely deadlines, who like a fast-paced, but friendly and collaborative environment with opportunities for growth. This is a highly translational project so there will be opportunities to participate in many elements, such as designing and leading research, obtaining ethical approval, monitoring of studies, setting up grants for both national and international funders and international collaboration (e.g. with Canada and US).

The successful candidate will be embedded within the School for Cardiovascular Diseases (CARIM, Faculty of Health and Medicine, Maastricht University) and work in close collaboration with the Clinical Pharmacy department (Maastricht University Medical Center+).

The candidate is expected to:

• Play a crucial role in the research and innovations required, in collaboration with the other researchers on the team.
• Involve different stakeholders.
• Participate to projects and team meetings and fulfill tasks required by project activities.
• Contribute to external funds acquisitions.
• Strengthen existing relations and contribute to creating new ones.
• Disseminate the results through publications in peer-reviewed journals and presentations at international conferences.

You have:

• A PhD in a relevant field (e.g., in pharmacy, public health, epidemiology, medical and health sciences). Candidates who have not yet completed their PhD are welcome to apply, but should have finished their thesis prior to starting this position.
• Experience of doing research that addresses patient safety. You are interested in improving medication safety and in working at the crossroads between medication use, health services research, care transitions and innovation.
• Experience with qualitative methods is a plus.
• Excellent written and spoken command of English (Cambridge English Proficiency, level C2, oral and written), and Dutch as demonstrated by academic publications and presentations at international conferences.

We offer a top-level academic environment with excellent opportunities for personal development. The work is highly interdisciplinary and the atmosphere in the group as well at the institute is collegial and collaborative.

Fixed-term contract: 3 years. The selected applicant will undergo an evaluation after 1 year, after which a decision is made to prolong the contract or not. We can offer up to 3 years of funding, but are also open to shorter contracts if preferred.

Depending on experience and qualification, the maximum gross monthly salary is
€ 5.439 of the Dutch university collective bargaining agreement. An 8% holiday and an 8.3% year-end allowance is also provided.

In addition to good primary employment conditions, UM also offers an attractive package of secondary employment conditions.

The terms of employment of Maastricht University are set out in the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities (CAO). Furthermore, local UM provisions also apply. For more information look at the website www.maastrichtuniversity.nl > About UM > Working at UM.

Maastricht University

Maastricht University is renowned for its unique, innovative, problem-based learning system, which is characterized by a small-scale and student-oriented approach. Research at UM is characterized by a multidisciplinary and thematic approach, and is concentrated in research institutes and schools. Maastricht University has around 22,000 students and about 5,000 employees. Reflecting the university's strong international profile, a fair amount of both students and staff are from abroad. The university hosts 6 faculties: Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Faculty of Law, School of Business and Economics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience. 
For more information, visit www.maastrichtuniversity.nl.

School Cardiovascular Diseases

CARIM is one of the six schools of the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML) of Maastricht University and is embedded within the Maastricht University Medical Center+ (Maastricht UMC+). CARIM collaborates closely with the Heart+Vascular Center of Maastricht UMC+. CARIM is one of the largest cardiovascular research institutes in Europe, producing more than 500 scientific articles and approximately 40 PhD dissertations per year.

https://www.carimmaastricht.nl/