Twelve OUH staff embark on their research journey

Twelve members of the Oxford University Hospitals staff from a range of disciplines have begun their research journey by starting two schemes aimed at nurses, midwives, allied health professionals, healthcare scientists, pharmacists and clinical psychologists (NMAHPPS).

Six people started the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre's internship programme, while six others began the Oxford Hospitals Charity Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) Fellowship.

The Oxford BRC internships are aimed at NMAHPPS with little or no research experience. The interns select a research topic that relates directly to their area of clinical work. The award covers salary costs, allowing the interns to have protected time.

Funded by Oxford Hospitals Charity, the CNO Fellowship scheme aims to encourage staff to find practical and impactful solutions to a number of hospital challenges. This year’s research topics include dementia care, nutrition, falls and hospital acquired pressure ulcers.

Both schemes offer a series of workshops and seminars to give the interns and fellows the skills and practical knowledge to carry our effective research. They all have an experienced nurse researcher mentor, as well as access to senior clinical expertise.

Dr Clair Merriman, Lead for NMAHPPS Research and Innovation in NOTSSCaN Division and organiser of the BRC internship scheme, said: "This programme has become very popular among NMAHPPS who see how research can not only enrich their careers, but also improve the service they work in and deliver better outcomes for their patients."

Dr Sheera Sutherland, Lead for NMAHPPS Research and Innovation in MRC Division, who runs the CNO Fellowship programme, added: "Together, these two initiatives offer a wonderful opportunity for young NMAHPPS to dip their toe in the water and see if research is for them. Very often they find it stimulating and rewarding and an important first step on their clinical academic pathway.

"We are very grateful to Oxford Hospitals Charity and the Oxford BRC for providing the funding to support these fantastic initiatives, which allow us to maintain research awareness, capability and capacity in our NMAHPPS workforce.

The BRC interns are:

• Kelvin Tse
  Hand Therapist
• HemaSree NirmalKumar
  Healthcare Scientist
• Soroyya Moradi
  Research assistant
• Sandhya Rai
  Congenital Myasthenia Specialist Nurse
• Gemma Carpenter
  Physiotherapist
• Laura Russel
  Speech and Language Therapist

The CNO fellows are:

• Emmanuel Esigobe
  Dietitian, researching dementia care
• Joey Matthews
  Special Orthoptist, researching falls
• Claire Grant
  Dermatology Nurse, researching falls
• Niamh Smith
  Dietitian, researching nutrition
• Judith Godfrey
  Occupational Therapist, researching hospital acquired pressure ulcers
• Jo Snelling
  Team Chaplain, researching spiritual care

Niamh Smith, a General Medicine Dietitian, is one of the CNO Fellows. She will be looking at meal provision in the hospital, especially for patients with allergies or on modified diets.

"When I was in university, I really enjoyed research. Then I started work in a clinical area but I was craving to do a little bit more research and then this opportunity arose. It's a great chance to get started in it because sometimes it's a bit confusing about how you actually get into research.

"I like the idea of being involved in something that's improving care; feeling like I'm not just helping someone get through their stay in hospital but actually trying to improve things for people in future."

Another CNO Fellow is Occupational Therapist Judith Godfrey, who is investigating hospital acquired pressure ulcers.

"A substantial part of my first posting was looking at pressure relief for wheelchair users who were sat down for most of the day, increasing their risk of pressure ulcer development, which piqued my interest initially. Now that I'm working on a complex medical unit, I have seen patients who have quite horrific pressure ulcers pre-admission or unfortunately develop pressure ulcers on the ward. From an occupational therapy perspective, there is a large element of positioning and movement, which is really important.

"One of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists' objectives is to get more OTs involved in research. I've always been interested in building that wealth of knowledge for OTs specifically and encouraging other occupational therapists to get involved in research."

Gemma Carpenter, the only physiotherapist in the neuromyelitis optica (NMO) service, is one the BRC interns.

She said: "NMO is a rare condition affecting the central nervous system. There isn't always a huge amount of rehabilitation or quality of life evidence to draw from. This internship provides a good opportunity to add to this research area and take a deeper dive into things that are going to directly impact our patients. Part of my role is looking at ways to enhance the lives of people living with these long-term rare conditions, and without the research, without the evidence, it's harder to do this.

"I'm really looking forward to it. I've been a physio for more than 20 years, but to have the opportunity to really focus in and have some specific time in the week to look at the things that will directly impact my clinic practice and hopefully lead to improved patient care is huge. It's come at a time when my two small children are now at school. So, I have a bit more time to really focus in on the things that I think matter clinically in the world of NMO."

Another BRC intern is Laura Russell, a speech therapist in the adult voice service in ENT. She has been waiting for the opportunity to investigate a specific issue: "There's been a question I've had for a long time around how we might improve the service that we give a particular subset of our patients - people living with a chronic long-term voice disorder called laryngeal dystonia.

"We provide a very good medical service, but we know that these patients are very isolated and suffer with mental health difficulties. I wanted to see if we could improve that aspect of the service. There's a lot of research into how good peer support is for chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease. There's nothing like that for voice disorders. I've spent a long time thinking about it and waited for the right opportunity. It's just wonderful that there's so much support for me to take the time to crystallise that idea."