21 Nov 2022
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Catalyst scholarship awards support practitioners
We are delighted to announce that more than a dozen regional researchers have been awarded nearly £25k in catalyst scholarship funding.
These new scholarships will enable health and care practitioners to carry out and share the findings of their research to improve services for our local population.
Where requested, successful applicants will receive mentorship from academic researchers at the University of East Anglia and have the opportunity to join a small action learning group with support from the UEAHSCP Research Director who will help to guide mentor and keep the work on track.
Applications were reviewed by the Management Board panel of experts drawn from across Norfolk, Suffolk and North Essex and there was an overwhelming sense of the creative talent our region has in its workforce.
The projects receiving a share of the funding are:
Adam Peel, Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust
Project: Infection Risk and The Impact of Managing an Indwelling Pleural Catheter at Home (TIM-IPC)
This award enables Adam to conduct a literature review and study protocol to apply for research funding to investigate the infection risk and impact of managing an indwelling pleural catheter at home.
Indwelling catheters to manage a condition called Pleural Effusion which is an abnormal collection of fluid between the layers of membrane that surround the lungs.
A collection of fluid here causes crushing chest pain and difficulty breathing. The catheter can help people living a home with this kind of problem to be managed in the community by a district nursing team or carer.
This could potentially help avoid unnecessary hospital admission and ensure that funding can be diverted to community services instead in the longer term.
Francois Kwong, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Found Trust
Project: MAchine Learning Across Multiple Sites (MALAMS)
This award will support Francois to develop a research proposal for applying artificial intelligence to screening digital images and histopathology reports.
Using machine learning algorithms in health care has great potential to improve services in the future and speed up diagnostic screening and treatment.
The future plan is to test the idea in different hospitals in the region and support the development of practitioners with machine learning training.
Claire Whitehouse, James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Project: Exploring the Sushealth impacts of the JPUH Research Scholarships (EnSuRE)
This award will help Claire to explore and understand the impact of the Sushealth programme which aims to contribute to the NHS (2020) strategy for delivering a net zero national health system through its Green Plan.
The project aims to understand the environmental, financial, and social impacts of the Sushealth pilot at the James Paget Hospital and contribute to its Green Plan.
Jonathan Yazbek, James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Project: Reminiscence Interactive Therapy Activities (RITA)
This award will support the evaluation of RITA in an identified ward with patients who are living with dementia and have complex care needs. RITA stands for Reminiscence/Rehabilitation & Interactive Therapy Activities and is an all-in-one touch Screen solution which offers digital reminiscence therapy which is a new tool in the fields of nursing and healthcare.
It aims to improve patient safety and person-centred care as well as reducing length of hospital stay and delayed transfer of care from one setting to another.
Charlotte Mehegan, West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
Project: BIO-CRT
This award will support Charlotte to undertake a literature review to underpin the development of a research proposal to demonstrate the impact of Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy (CRT), a form of pacemaker, used in patients with heart failure. CRT has the potential to offer an alternative to heart ultrasound scans which have a very long waiting list as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cardio-HART is a new innovation that can read a person's heart status in three minutes performing an ECG trace of the heart, an ultrasound and heart sounds.
This would normally need a person to have three separate hospital appointments. Such an innovation could save time, money and speed up treatment for people with heart failure as well as reducing the waiting lists for ultrasound.
Mehar Shiju, James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Project: Evaluating the Quality and Impact of Preceptorship Programme (EQuIPP)
Mehar will use her award to evaluate the impact of the Preceptorship programme at the James Paget Hospital.
Preceptorship is a period in which newly qualified staff nurses receive support from an experienced registered nurse to support their transition into the service.
She intends to scope the strengths and limitations of preceptorship in practice, refine the structures and processes to support the model of preceptorship and develop a toolkit.
She hopes to roll out her evaluation protocol to be adopted across the East of England for others working in preceptorship roles in the future.
Jude Hatton, Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
Project: Caring Well for Care Leavers (CWfCL)
This scholarship will support Jude to undertake a scoping review of the literature to explore the impact of mental health in care leavers.
Care leavers are people who are living in Foster Care or Residential care at age 16 and are transitioning into independent living.
Evidence suggests that this group of people have higher levels of mental health needs that their peers who have not been through the care system.
They are an underrepresented group in Mental Health systems and the review will highlight what support needs to be put in place to improve services for care leavers in Norfolk and Waveney.
Shyam Gokani, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Project:
This award will help Shyam to review the evidence needed to develop a new diagnostic tool for treating Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS).
CRS is a long-term sinus disease affecting 1 in 10 adults in the UK who present to their GP on multiple visits with a blocked and runny nose, loss of small, facial pain, fatigue and breathing problems such as asthma.
The ExpRess study will lay the ground workforce future studies to predict which patients might respond to medical or surgical therapy for CRS using biomarkers.
It may also help to identify novel drug treatments to ensure that there is more efficient use of treatment resources.
Tash Corballis, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Project: DCB AVC meta-analysis
This award will support Tash to undertake a systematic review of studies that focus on the treatment of coronary artery stenoses, a hardening of the arteries that supply the heart.
Conventional treatment includes inserting a stent to keep the coroner arteries open, or drug -coated balloons.
The project wants to explore the acute complication rates of coronary artery vessel closure as reported in randomised controlled trial studies comparing the two treatments.
It will also analyse the occurrance of major adverse cardiovascular events.
Cathleen Chabo, East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust
Project: Inclusion Roma (INROM)
Cathleen's award will help support a literature review looking at the barriers to engagement of the Roma community who are disproportionally affected by Hepatitis B and D virus.
In order to find suitable treatments and potential cures for this condition, they need to recruit eligible patients from the Roma community who would benefit from treatment by taking part in clinical research.
The award will look at the barriers to engagement and compliance in clinical research addressing patient and public involvement (PPI) and Improving Inclusion of Under Served Groups in Clinical Research.
Rene Gray, James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Project: Out Of Bed Project (OOBD)
This award will help Rene to collect data and staff feedback on how to improve the percentage of patients mobilising out of bed by the first day after having hip fracture surgery to meet the national average of 80%.
Getting patients out of bed within 24 hours of surgery is important to improve patient outcomes, including reduced mortality, increased independence and reducing the length of acute hospital stay.
She will write up the findings for a journal publication.
Jemma Yarnton-Peacock, East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust
Project: Approaches to Supervision and Placements in Radiography Education (ASPIRE)
This award will enable Jemma to undertake a review of published literature on supervision models in undergraduate student clinical placements in therapeutic and diagnostic radiography.
She will explore the benefits and challenges of using this model and provide recommendations for supervision of pre-registration learners in radiography professions to inform future practice and research.
Nationally there is a need to increase student placement capacity and routes into Allied Health Professions (AHPs).
It is reported that collaborative learning models have shown to support an increase in placement capacity but the application to radiography education is unclear.
The NHS Long Term plan predicts that 27000 more AHPs are required by 2027 to meet future demand so it is important to understand how this may impact positively on future approaches to supervision and placements in radiography education.
Vasiliki Tsampasian, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia
Project: COVID-SPORTS
Small studies report that elite athletes have a more adverse outcome to COVID-19 infection, particularly manifested with increased myocardial scarring observed in cardiac MRI.
This project will address a clinically unmet need and provide the first systematic review and meta-analysis that will investigate the prevalence of abnormal cardiac MRI findings in elite athletes that have suffered COVID-19 infection.
This award will support researchers to perform a systematic review of all available literature to assess the prevalence of abnormal findings in the heart muscle of athletes that have recovered from COVID-19.
It will also aim to investigate how this compares to athletes that have not had COVID-19 and to evaluate whether the differences are associated with adverse clinical events.
Findings will be disseminated regionally and nationally through workshops, conference presentations and a peer reviewed publication.
Pooling all the data together and having a definite outcome of the effect of COVID-19 on elite athletes will inform future recommendations by the relevant bodies such as the European Association of Preventive Cardiology which issues guidelines and recommendations on when athletes could return to active play.
Thank you to our partner organisations who jointly funded these awards:
- East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust
- James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board
- NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board
- Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
- Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust
- Norfolk County Council The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn NHS Foundation Trust
- University of East Anglia
- West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
About us: As a growing network of organisations across Norfolk, Suffolk and North Essex, UEAHSCP seed funds ambitious practice-led collaborative research and innovation, bringing together like-minded clinicians, academics and health and social care practitioners to work on key improvements and innovations to benefit local population health priorities. We are committed to improving care and support for both patients and staff across our region, with membership including public representatives and a wide range of associate organisations from the charitable and voluntary sector. Get in touch to discover how UEAHSCP can help you - ueahscp@uea.ac.uk.
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