Staff Profile

Dr Rathbone joined Newcastle University as part of the School of Pharmacy in September 2017 having formerly worked as a Senior Clinical Pharmacist at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. Whilst at Northumbria he worked at the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, Cramlington and led major research projects exploring emerging models of integrated pharmacy practice. 

Dr Rathbone completed his clinical pharmacy foundation training at The James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough and then worked in various settings across the North East. Dr Rathbone has also completed the postgraduate diploma in clinical pharmacy and independent prescribing certificate for pharmacists in advanced general and respiratory medicine. He has experience of delivering clinical pharmacy services across a range of acute specialities including respiratory, acute assessment and care of the elderly. 

Dr Rathbone became a Lecturer in Clinical and Social Pharmacy in 2019.

Dr Rathbone's work specialises in social and clinical pharmacy research. This includes exploring patients' experiences of medicines use and the role of pharmacists in supporting medicines use. Dr Rathbone has expertise in qualitative methodology, drawing on psychological, sociological and anthropological perspectives, to examine pharmacy practice and medicines use. His current interests include

• patients' experiences of medicines use
• parents' and carers' experiences of medicines use

Dr Rathbone teaches across multiple aspects of social and clinical pharmacy; this includes physical examination skills (such as respiratory, cardiovascular and abdominal examinations) and procedural skills such as taking blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose measurements as as well as communication skills. 

Dr Rathbone has been a founding coordinator of the Great North Pharmacy Careers Conference and the Great North Pharmacy Research Conference.

Dr Rathbone is currently Stage 3 Lead.  

• Lindsey L, Rathbone AP. Using textual data in qualitative pharmacy and health services research. In: Desselle, SP;Garcıa Cardenas, V;Anderson, C;Aslani, P;Chen, AMH;Chen, TF, ed. Contemporary Research Methods in Pharmacy and Health Services. London: Elsevier, 2022, pp.421-432.
• Rathbone AP, Jamie K, Todd A, Husband A. A qualitative study exploring the lived experience of medication use in different disease states: linking the experiences of disease symptoms to medication adherence. Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics 2021, 46(2), 352-362.
• Taqi A, Rowlands G, Rathbone AP. A systematic review and thematic synthesis to identify factors that influence pharmacists’ involvement in asthma care services: an identity crisis. Exploratory Research in Social and Clinical Pharmacy 2021, 3, 100051.
• Lindsey L, Rathbone AP. Beyond the numbers: Utilising existing textual data for qualitative research in pharmacy and health services research. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy 2021, epub ahead of print.
• Rathbone AP, Richardson CL, Mundell A, Lau WM, Nazar H. Exploring the role of pharmacy students using entrusbable professional activities to complete medication histories and deliver patient counselling services in secondary care. Exploratory Research in Clinical and Social Pharmacy 2021, 4, 100079.
• Lindsey L, Hughes S, Rathbone AP. Social prescribing in community pharmacy: a systematic review and thematic synthesis. The Pharmaceutical Journal 2021, 307(7951).
• Nazar H, Rathbone A, Husband AK. The development of undergraduate pharmacy students as reflective thinkers for the evolving field of pharmacy. International Journal of Pharmacy Practice 2021, 1-6.
• Jamie K, Rathbone A. Using theory and reflexivity to preserve methodological rigour of data collection in qualitative research. Research Methods in Medicine & Health Sciences 2022, 3(1), 11-21.
• Nazar H, Rathbone AP, Richardson C, Livsey L, Husband AK. Young@Heart clinic: a feasibility study of an undergraduate pharmacy student-led blood pressure and healthy lifestyle clinic. The International journal of pharmacy practice 2021, 29(3), 277-284.
• Rathbone AP, Jamie K, Blackburn J, Gray W, Baqir W, Henderson E, Campbell D. Exploring an extended role for pharmacy assistants on inpatient wards in UK hospitals: using mixed-methods to develop the role of Medicines Assistants. European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy 2020, 27(2), 78-83.
• Masudur P, Rathbone AP. Providing medicines adherence support to areas of high deprivation in England: community pharmacists’ experience. The Pharmaceutical Journal 2020, 304(7936).
• Rathbone AP, Norris R, Parker P, Lindsley L, Robinson A, Baqir W, Campbell D, Husband A. Exploring the use of WhatsApp in out-of-hours pharmacy services: A multi-site qualitative study. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy 2019, 16(4), 503-510.
• Rathbone AP, Nazar H, Harburn J, Todd A, Husband A. Exploring Undergraduate Pharmacy Student Experiences of Learning Human Anatomy Using Cadaveric Specimens. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2019, 83(8), 7103.
• Rathbone AP. Prescribing Basics. Geeky Medics, 2019. Available at: https://geekymedics.com/prescribing-basics/.
• Rathbone AP, Rokib T, Baqir W, Campbell D. The Foundation Pharmacist Project: exploring new models of dual-sector postgraduate pharmacy training. International Journal of Pharmacy Practice 2019, 27(2), 191-200.
• Rathbone AP. How to take a medication history. Geeky Medics, 2018. Available at: https://geekymedics.com/how-to-take-a-medication-history/.
• Rathbone AP, Todd A, Jamie K, Bonam M, Banks L, Husband AK. A systematic review and thematic synthesis of patients’ experience of medicines adherence. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy 2017, 13(3), 403-439.
• Baqir W, Rathbone AP, Stocker A, Campbell D. Foundation pharmacists in GP Practice: exploring experiences of future workforce development. In: Clinical Pharmacy Congress 2017. 2017, London, UK.
• Rathbone AP, Mansoor SM, Krass K, Hamrosi K, Aslani P. Qualitative study to conceptualise a model of interprofessional collaboration between pharmacists and general practitioners to support patients' adherence to medication. BMJ Open 2016, 6(3), e010488.
• Rathbone AP, Jamie K. Transferring from Clinical Pharmacy Practice to Qualitative Research: Questioning Identity, Epistemology and Ethical Frameworks. Sociological Research Online 2016, 21(2), 1-9.
• Rathbone AP, Husband AK, Todd A, Jamie K. "I've never been a big tablet taker": a phenomenology of the experiences of medicines adherence in men with diabetes. In: 59th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society for Social Medicine. 2015, Dublin: BMJ Group.
• Rathbone AP, Husband AK, Todd A, Jamie K. PP53 “I’ve never been a big tablet taker”: a phenomenology of the experiences of medicines adherence in men with diabetes. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health 2015, 69(Suppl. 1), A75-A76.