We were thrilled to host the first of our new ADRC seminar series last Wednesday and welcomed a range of attendees including academics, practitioners, students and community members.

Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
The Ageing and Dementia Research Centre (ADRC) at Bournemouth University, with funding from Dementia Research UK, launched a 2023/4 project focused on ex-military veterans—a typically underserved group in dementia research. The project explores veterans’ experiences through collaborative creative workshops, culminating in a documentary-style short film that amplifies their voices and personal stories. During this seminar we will share our film, highlight implications for practice and discuss the next stages of our project.
The seminar is open to all Bournemouth University staff, students, community organisations, and anyone interested in the topic.
Please keep an eye out for upcoming seminars throughout the new year!
Key Details:
• Date: Wednesday 4 December 2024
• Time: 3pm -4pm
• Topic: Veterans and Dementia: A Collaborative Research Project
• Speaker: Dr. Michele Board, Associate Professor Nursing Older People and Co-Lead Ageing and Dementia Research Centre ADRC
See you there!
Microsoft Teams
Scan the QR code below or click on this link:
Meeting ID: 364 666 916 013
Passcode: wJyC7U
Introduction
Academic have been warned for a decade about predatory Open Access publishers (van Teijlingen 2014). These are commercial organisations charging academics a publication fee on submission of their manuscripts with a promise to publish their work quickly online. The problem is twofold: first, these commercial organisations don’t offer proper peer-review and editorial quality assurance; and secondly, academic are being tricked into believing the journal is a legitimate scientific publication. The second author receives on average six to eight invitations a week to publish in this kind of predatory journals – see below for examples. The first author, who despite having not worked in an academic institution for over three years, still receives such invitations to publish in ‘Journal X’.
A similar phenomenon to predatory journals is the predatory conference (Moital 2014; Nobes 2017; Grove 2017). These are pretend academic conferences of questionable value, established first and foremost to make money, not for the greater good of the academic discipline.
Both authors have received bogus and legitimate invitations to attend conferences. A predicament with such an invitation, which 99% of time arrives by email, is that it is not easy to distinguish between fake and real offers. For example, the first author recently received an offer (at short notice), to attend a conference in Miami in November 2017 (see below). This was on the back of an editorial he had published couple of months earlier. For a career researcher going from contract to contract, the appeal of being invited to present a keynote at a conference can be flattering, far less an honour and a boost for one’s career. Therefore, while the idea that if it seems too good to be true, is a prudent one to hold; there is also a temptation to follow through.
The author replied to the request quizzing the reason for the invite out of the blue. The answer was less than convincing, and a swift email by the author saying “Don’t tell me… You are offering me a keynote with travel and accommodation… Lol!!” called their bluff and ended correspondence.
But digging a little deeper he found there was a webpage dedicated to taking payments to attend the conference. In the digital world, a fool can be easily and quickly separated from his or her money.
Of course, it may have been a real conference at a real venue, and they really wanted him to speak. But discerning this is not easy at first…
Some of the warning signs/What to look out for
Furthermore, Andy Nobes (2017) offered some helpful advice on quality of the conference websites in the list below. Andy is based at AuthorAID, a global network providing support, mentoring, resources and training for researchers in developing countries.
Who is at risk of falling for predatory conferences?
Academics need to be aware of money-making conferences and meetings without a true commitment to science. But some academics might be more at risk than others. Young researchers, PhD students and fledgling academics, living from contract to contract may feel any conference attendance is a potential career boost. Thus, such an invitation might seem flattering and an opportunity to good to miss. A way to show that he or she is a capable and independent academic.
Final thoughts
Most academics go to conferences for a combination of presenting their work to get critical feedback, making new contacts, sharing ideas and to be inspired. With such broad combination of motivating factors, the exact purpose of conferences is difficult to ascertain because there is no a priori agreed role and value of conferences (Nicolson, 2017a). However, there is evidence that academic conferences function to facilitate commodity transactions, be that knowledge, tools, skills, reputations, or connections, which reflects the neoliberal ethos in the modern academy (Nicolson 2017b). The predatory conference can be viewed in this light, where academia is more and more focused on generating revenue. It is at best scurrilous, and worst, criminal, for organisations to make money using such a confidence trick. Always check which conferences are organised and advertised by recognised scholarly organisations in your own discipline. If uncertain ask a more experienced academic, a senior colleague or mentor.
Donald J. Nicolson
(Health Services Researcher, NHS Fife, and Independent Scholar; twitter @_mopster )
Edwin R. van Teijlingen
(Centre Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health)
References:
Moital, M. (2014) Ten Signs of a Bogus/Fake Conference.
Grove, J. (2017) Predatory conferences ‘now outnumber official scholarly events’ (26th Oct.)
Nicolson, D.J. (2017a) Do conference presentations impact beyond the conference venue? Journal of Research in Nursing. 22(5), pp.422-425.
Nicolson, D.J. (2017b) Academic Conferences as Neoliberal Commodities, Palgrave Macmillan
Nobes, A. (2017) What are ‘predatory’ conferences and how can I avoid them?
van Teijlingen, E. (2014) Beware of rogue journals.
On the 25th-27th October 2017, Dr Ben Hicks (Psychology and ADRC) and Professor Wen Tang (Department of Creative Technology) welcomed the ERASMUS+ project team to Bournemouth University. The team consisted of practitioners based at Alzheimer’s Valencia, Alzheimer’s Greece, Alzheimer’s Slovenia, Alzheimer’s Romania and IBV. Since October 2016, thanks to funding from the European Commission, the team has been developing an e-training platform to promote the use of Serious Games with people with dementia. This meeting-the third since the project began- enabled the research team to present the work they had been undertaking within their associated countries and discuss the next stages of the project. This included:
The e-training platform is beginning to take shape, although the training materials are not yet publically available. If you would like to access the web platform it can be found at: http://adgaming.ibv.org/
Although the meetings were long (and the discussions incredibly fruitful), the research team still had time to visit BU facilities and live the student experience for a day. This included having lunch within the Fusion Building canteen, undertaking Virtual Reality Navigational testing within the Psychology labs and buying two-for-one pints in Dylans at the end of the day!
The next project meeting will take place in Bucharest, Romania, in February 2018, where plans to disseminate and evaluate the training delivered to health practitioners will be discussed.
Welcoming the research team
The meetings begin
Experiencing student life at Dylans
Recently, I was fortune enough to become the Research Assistant on the HEIF-6 project run by Dr Ben Hicks. This is a one year project that aims to develop and evaluate a free Virtual Learning Environment tool that will support practitioners and care home staff wishing to use commercial gaming technology (iPads, Nintendo Wii) with people with dementia and their care partners. We have a number of experts involved in the research, such as Dr Samuel Nyman from Psychology Department and ADRC, Professor Wen Tang from Department of Creative Technology, Dr Sarah Thomas who is Deputy Director BUCRU and Dr Clare Cutler who is Research Skills and Development Officer. We also collaborate with Alive! who are a charity dedicated to improving the lives of older people and people with dementia through delivering innovative activities (e.g. the use of technology) and training dementia care practitioners. They work with 350 Care Homes and Day Centers across the South West of England and we are lucky to have Malcolm Burgin onboard who as the Regional Manager of Alive!.
Being part of such a research team, and having the chance to contribute to the HEIF-6 project is a great privilege and will certainly be beneficial as I begin my journey as an early career researcher.
If you would like further information on the project, please feel free to email Ben on bhicks@Bournemouth.ac.uk
The Société Française pour l’Etude des Lipides (SFEL) recently held the fourth iteration of their Lipids and Brain conference in Nancy France.
I was given the opportunity to present some preliminary results from an ongoing study I am conducting as part of my PhD, looking into the effects of a multi-nutrient omega-3 fatty acid supplement and exercise on mobility and cognitive function in ladies aged 60+. Analysis of the baseline data revealed relationships between levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the blood with cognitive and gait outcomes, however this effect differed between non-frail and pre-frail participants.
The conference brought together scientists, physicians and nutritionists to provide a unique prospective on the role of lipid nutrition in the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases with a large focus on Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). The conference was a mix of lectures, invited reviews, and poster sessions. There was a tremendous variety of topics presented, including lectures on the pathophysiology and epidemiology of AD, how AD can impact lipid metabolism and the effects of lipid intake on prevention and treatment of AD.
During the conference Professor Stephen Cunnane from the Research Center on Aging, Sherbrooke (Canada) was presented with the prestigious Chevreul Medal.
On a personal note this was an exciting opportunity for me to present my work and represent Bournemouth University and my supervisory team of Dr. Simon Dyall and Dr. Fotini Tsofliou at a respected conference. It was very satisfying to see some interest in my work from researchers whose work I myself look up to.
I would like to extend my gratitude towards Bournemouth University, for providing the funding that allowed me to attend the conference and to the scientific committee at the SFEL for organising such an impeccable event.
If you would like to learn more about our research, please feel free to contact me at pfairbairn@bournemouth.ac.uk
Research funded by the British Heart Foundation looking at tissue fibrosis (scarring), will soon be published in Experimental Gerontology, one the world’s leading journal on ageing. Fibrosis occurs naturally as part of our injury response process but also develops in ageing and chronic disease. Treatments are scant despite fibrosis leading to organ failure and increased risk of death.
The image shows valves (v) in the hearts of young and ‘late middle aged’ fruit flies that have been genetically engineered to express fluorescent collagen, an key ‘scar protein’. Although the fly heart is just two cells wide it represents a lot of the genetic machinery for a human heart. Amazingly, the function of human and fly hearts declines as they age – and they both accumulate collagen.
Our previous work linked heart function with SPARC – a protein associated with fibrosis in humans. We’ve now demonstrated that the heart’s ‘health-span’ during ageing can be significantly lengthened if the expression SPARC is reduced. We also show that if SPARC levels increase – fibrosis is increased too. Hence, we’ve nailed a cause-and-effect relationship between SPARC and heart function which supports the idea of targeting SPARC clinically to control cardiac health and fibrosis.
Paul S. Hartley (Department of Life and Environmental Science).
Last week, Prof Ann Hemingway, Prof Adele Ladkin and Dr Holly Crossen-White joined European research colleagues in Ostend, Belgium for a SAIL Project bi-annual team meeting. Over two days all research partners from four different European countries had the opportunity to share their initial research data from pilot projects being developed within each country for older people. The BU team will be undertaking the feasibility study for the SAIL project and will be drawing together all the learning from the various interventions created by the other partners.
Jan Wiener, Ramona Grzeschik and Chris Hilton represented the Ageing & Dementia Research Centre (ADRC) at the 40th European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP) 27–31 August 2017 in Berlin and the 20th Conference of the European Society for Cognitive Psychology (ESCoP) 3-6 September 2017 in Potsdam.
The ECVP is an annual meeting that brings together researchers from Psychology, Neurosciences, Optics, Computational Sciences and more. Besides vision, other modalities are represented as well as their interaction (multisensory perception). The conference of the ESCoP is being held once every two years. The society’s mission is “the furtherance of scientific enquiry within the field of Cognitive Psychology and related subjects, particularly with respect to collaboration and exchange of information between researchers in different European countries”.
Ramona represented the ADRC at both conferences with her ESRC-funded project on Dementia-friendly environments. In particular, she presented a poster with the latest results of her wayfinding experiment where she investigated the route learning abilities and eye movements of young and old participants.
At the ESCoP conference, Jan gave a talk on “What can eye-tracking tell us about the cognitive mechanisms underlying successful navigation?” where he introduced a couple of experiments that investigated eye movements during route and place learning in Virtual Environments.
Chris presented his results at the ESCoP as well. His poster titled “An exploration into the effects of ageing on general control of attention during route learning in a complex environment.” escribed his experiment using a natural looking virtual environment called “Virtual Tübingen”. He investigated attentional engagement during a route learning task in young and old participants.
1-day BU conference/workshop examining what happens when things go wrong in surgery, 8th September 2017
Every day we make mistakes; we pick up the wrong set of keys from the kitchen drawer, pick up the wrong identical suitcase from the airport carousel, or, in the case of the Oscars, a near identical envelope is given to Warren Beatty who then announces the wrong Best Film winner.
What happens when things go wrong in surgery where the consequences can be much more serious? While attention, quite rightly, focuses on patient need when things go wrong, the aim of this event is to examine how medical professionals can be better supported and trained to cope with these adverse events.
Eminent speakers from around the UK will present the latest research in the area, share insights from their surgical careers and personal experiences and will consider:-
Impact – The personal impact when complications and errors arise in surgery
Resilience – Dealing with stress and maintaining wellbeing
Restoration – what can be done when things go wrong?
While the focus is on surgeons, it is clear that those in other medical professions (e.g. nurses, midwives, GPs) face similar issues in the workplace. Anyone with an interest in the topic is welcome to attend (attendance is free for BU staff). For further details and to register for the conference please visit www.surgeonwellbeing.co.uk or contact Professor Siné McDougall (smcdougall@bournemouth.ac.uk; ext. 61722).
Do you have an interest in people living with Cancer and Nutrition?
Then read more about the important activities of the Cancer and Nutrition NIHR infrastructure collaboration.
Since its establishment in 2014 the collaboration has sought to better enable a wide community of interested parties to bring together the high quality research being carried out in cancer together with the highquality research being carried out in nutrition, so that each can add value to the other in the interest of patients and the public.
There are 5 workstreams : Workstream 1: Patientsand Public, Workstream 2: Professional Workforce – training and capacity building, Workstream 3: Research – building an infrastructure and action plan to tackle the evidence gap, Workstream 4 characterising nutritional status in cancer – the Tookit, Workstream 5: commercial sector and industry,
Professor Jane Murphy from the Ageing and Dementia Research Centre (ADRC) leads ‘Workstream 2: Professional Workforce – training and capacity building’ and is a member of the Steering Committee.
The activities accomplished in Phase 2 are presented in the following report just published and more details about the collaboration can be found on the website.
Report Link
http://cancerandnutrition.nihr.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Cancer-Nutrition-Full-Report-FINAL_03-06-16.pdf
Website Link
http://cancerandnutrition.nihr.ac.uk/work-streams/
Please contact Jane: jmurphy@bournemouth.ac.uk if you would like to know more or have any questions or queries.
The TACIT Trial has a new professional video; please forward to anyone you know who has dementia or is a carer of someone with dementia who may be interested in taking part in this study: https://youtu.be/96Kyi_P7ngI.
Further information can be found below and by visiting the website www.bournemouth.ac.uk/tai-chi. A YouTube clip can also be seen with Dr Samuel Nyman appearing on the BBC Radio Solent breakfast show and the breakfast team taking part in Tai Chi.
The TACIT Trial Team at Bournemouth University Ageing & Dementia Research Centre are looking for people living with dementia and their carers to take part in an exciting new study. For more information, please get in touch!
People with dementia and their informal carer will be helping with research to find out if Tai Chi is beneficial for people with dementia. All participants will be talking to researchers on a weekly basis and half will have the chance of getting to do Tai Chi. This study will be based in #Bournemouth #Ferndown #Christchurch #Dorchester #Poole #Romsey#Eastleigh #Portsmouth.
You can have a look at our flyer (https://goo.gl/vZzkWG) and our venues´ details (www.bournemouth.ac.uk/tai-chi).
If you want to get involved, please contact Yolanda Barrado-Martín by:
· E-mail: ybarradomartin@bournemouth.ac.uk
· Telephone: 07801890258
· Facebook #TheTACITTrial: Fill out our questionnaire (https://goo.gl/forms/WA5mk2vR8m9qWw0K2) with your contact details and we will get back to you!
The chapter is called, “Interplay between lipid mediators and the immune system in the promotion of brain repair”, and looks at the interactions of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids with endocannabinoids in neuroinflammation, neurogenesis and brain aging.
The brain is highly enriched in docosahexaenoic (DHA) and arachidonic (ARA) acids, omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), respectively. DHA and other long-chain omega-3 PUFAs are precursors of anti-inflammatory and pro-resolving mediators, whereas ARA is precursor of inflammatory eicosanoids, but also pro-resolving mediators. The endocannabinoid system comprises a group of bioactive lipids, receptors and enzymes involved in their synthesis and degradation. 2-archidonoylglycerol (2-AG) and anandamide (AEA) are the primary agonists of cannabinoid receptors in the brain, substrate for enzymes such as cyclooxygenases, lipoxygenases and cytochrome P450 mixed function oxygenases, which release ARA upon hydrolysis. The aging brain has impaired ability to balance protective and detrimental effects of the immune system and chronic low-grade neuroinflammation is a contributor to cognitive impairment and development of neurodegenerative diseases. There is a complex interplay between omega-3 and omega-6 PUFAs, the endocannabinoid system and the immune system. This chapter summarises current evidence of this interplay and discusses the therapeutic potential in the promotion of brain self-repair.
Dr Simon Dyall’s Bioactive Lipids Research Lab conducts research investigating the role of bioactive lipid mediators in brain protection and repair across the lifespan and following neurotrauma.
The book, Role of the Mediterranean Diet in the Brain and Neurodegenerative Disease” is edited by Farooqui T. and Farooqui A., and is due for publication 1st November 2017 by Academic Press. Paperback ISBN: 9780128119594
Next months sees the publication of our latest article on research ethics in developing countries [1]. Our paper argues that despite a significant increase in health research activity in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) in recent years, only limited work has been done to address ethical concerns. Most ethics committees in LMICs lack the authority and/or the capacity to monitor research in the field. This is important since not all research, particularly in LMICs region, complies with ethical principles, sometimes this is inadvertently or due to a lack of awareness of their importance in assuring proper research governance. With several examples from Nepal, this paper reflects on the steps required to obtain informed consents and highlights some of the major challenges and barriers to seeking informed consent from research participants. At the end of this paper, we also offer some recommendations around how can we can promote and implement optimal informed consent taking process.
The paper is co-written by six authors, and interestingly five are graduates of the University of Aberdeen. These Aberdeen University graduates are currently affiliated with five different universities. Four of who are based in the UK at: the University of Liverpool, the University of the West of England, the University of Oxford, and in Bournemouth University’s Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) and one in the USA: Georgetown University. The sixth co-author, Nirmal Aryal, is currently a PhD student at the University of Otago in Dunedin (New Zealand). Whilst Liverpool-based researcher Dr. Pramod Regmi is heading back for Bournemouth University to become a lecturer in International Health in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences this autumn.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
CMMPH
Reference:
The Health Services Journal published a commentary this week on Community Hospitals [1]. This online article is written by Dr. Emma Pitchforth who is based at RAND Europe in Cambridge (& BU Visiting Faculty), Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen (Faculty of Health & Social Sciences) and Dr. Ellen Nolte based at the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.
The authors highlight the recently completed NIHR study on Community Hospitals [2]. The notion of a Community Hospital in the UK is evolving from the traditional model of a local hospital staffed by general practitioners and nurses and serving mainly rural populations. Along with the diversification of models, there is a renewed policy interest in community hospitals and their potential to deliver integrated care. However, there is a need to better understand the role of different models of community hospitals within the wider health economy and an opportunity to learn from experiences of other countries to inform this potential.
With ease of access and a sense of homeliness, there is potential for Community Hospitals to be better integrated into NHS in England. The authors suggest that a more strategic role for ‘traditional’ Community Hospitals might be timely within the NHS in England. They further conclude that if challenges around Community Hospitals are addressed and their within the English health system is properly defined, they could provide positive benefits to the health service. It seems that, if done correctly, Community Hospitals could be a traditional solution to help address some of the modern day challenges of the NHS.The full NIHR report is Open Access and can be found here!
Last year the research team had already published a scoping review article from the NIHR study [3].
References:
Joanne Holmes from the Ageing and Dementia Research Centre ( ADRC) was invited to present a workshop entitled ‘The Mealtime Experience – what is the impact on an individual’s health and wellbeing?’ at the Partners in Care Quality Matters Conference at Poole Lighthouse. Those attending the workshop represented a range of social care providers and commissioners from across the region. During the workshop participants engaged in lively discussion about the barriers and enablers to good nutritional care for those receiving social care in both the residential setting and home care. Various activities were undertaken including tasting and smelling foods to highlight these barriers. Suggestions were made on how to improve the meal time experience informed by research on nutrition and dementia care, funded by the Burdett Trust for Nursing ( PI Prof Jane Murphy and Co-PI Joanne Holmes) and Joanne’s own PhD studies: An exploration of the factors that affect the extensive meal experience for cognitively active elderly living in residential care.
Both Joanne and Jane were on hand to answer any questions about good nutritional care for the older person throughout the conference and represent the ADRC at this key regional showcase event.
Professor Jane Murphy, Joanne Holmes and Michelle Board supported by Michelle O’Brien hosted the launch of the online version of the workbook ‘Eating and Drinking Well: Supporting People Living with Dementia’ at the Royal College of Physicians, London on 27th June 2017. Attended by leading stakeholders across health and social care, charities including age UK, hospices, WRVS and housing organisations, this impact event explore how good nutrition and hydration can be improved for people living with dementia.
The ADRC was delighted to welcome Professor Martin Green, Chief Executive of Care England who gave an inspiring keynote speech concentrating on the importance of nutrition to ensure dignity in care. He was passionate about the need to raise the profile of good food and nutrition amongst politicians and policy makers to enhance and maintain quality of life for many older people receiving social care. Other speakers included Jan Zietara, Head of Operational Delivery, Health Education England (South) who talked about current work and new developments to enhance the knowledge and skills of the health and social workforce with particular focus on initiatives for dementia education and training. Finally, Kathy Wallis, Senior Programme Manager, Nutrition in Older People Programme, Wessex Academic Health Science Network highlighted the projects, resources and tools undertaken to address the growing concerns of malnutrition (undernutrition) in older people living in the community.
Helped by a lovely afternoon tea, there was active and lively discussion by all participants about how the workbook could help improve the delivery of nutritional care for people with dementia across a range of health and social care sectors. All were very supportive of the training tools and left the event with lots of ideas and identified actions to put into place that would be followed up by the team!
The workbook stems from research funded by the Burdett Trust for Nursing. The workbook is freely downloadable from the website:
http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/nutrition-dementia
It is designed to be used in conjunction with a training film, also available via the website.
This year several students have been funded to work as student research assistants on Fusion Funded-projects.
Here, BU MSc student Renuka Balasundaram reflects on her experience of taking part in the scheme and completing the project.
Then, her supervisors Dr Samuel Nyman and Louise Fazakarley share their experiences and encourage staff to participate in the next scheme.
“My experience as a research assistant on the NHS Quality Improvement Project 2017”
Renuka Balasundaram
Department of Psychology
Bournemouth University
My voyage to explore the depths into the field of psychology started when I set off for my Masters in Neuropsychology in Bournemouth University right after my completion of Bachelors in psychology from India. The overwhelming coursework aside, the curriculum of teaching as a whole, felt very different. Three months into my master’s and having adapted myself in totally different environs, I decided to take a leap into the unknown by applying for post of SRA for the fusion funded program project, “NHS Quality Improvement Project”. A week after my successful interview with the project supervisors Dr. Samuel Nyman and Louise Fazakarley, I got a mail about my selection in the project which gave me mixed feelings of exhilaration and apprehension. The mixed emotions were mainly because it was my very first involvement in a practical research project involving hospital setup and interaction with patients. Things gradually settled after my induction with the Christchurch day hospital team and since then it had been a happy workplace with a very helpful and welcoming team at the hospital throughout the project. After a clear briefing of the work to be carried out in the hospital by my supervisors, I made regular visits to the hospital twice a week for almost two months followed by a month of data analysis and report writing. At every step of the project, I got full support from my supervisors which aided in the successful completion of the project. With regards to the project, we aimed to evaluate the Otago exercise training programme in Christchurch day hospital for which I used to regularly interact with the team and patients to get background knowledge and feedback about the training. In spite of having completed research modules in my bachelors and masters, as opposed to theory, it felt completely different when dealing with older patients as participants in a real life setting and collecting data from them through observation and regular interaction.
Personally, this research experience has given me insights into research in a real world and practical setting, enhanced my report writing skills and ultimately putting me firmly in pursuit of my future goal of becoming PhD laureate. It has also given me insight in to the meaning and importance of empirical evidence and scientific backup, for when patients come with a belief and hope of improvement after participation in the study. The project not only had a positive impact on me, but also on the hospital team whereby they implemented many of our suggestions and were pleased with our feedback. As learning and transition is key to growth and development, I strongly feel this project has achieved that, by paving way for an improved quality of training which would ultimately benefit the older population.
We had a Student Research Assistant work with us on a quality improvement project based at Christchurch Day Hospital. Working with the Falls Prevention Team, a student (Renuka) conducted an audit of current practice in the Otago exercise programme with a view to improving patient care. We gained service user feedback, reviewed and analysed the data they had collected, and sought to recommend changes to increase their patients’ exercise practice outside of classes. The project culminated with a report that Renuka presented to the team. Two aspects made this project particularly rewarding:
Learning opportunity for the student
Renuka, a psychology student, had a unique opportunity to work with non-psychology NHS staff as part of a multi-disciplinary team. She was also able to see the importance of research in a real-life context, giving a new depth of understanding to design features. We were also pleased to see our detailed feedback on her draft report transferred to improve her writing in general that she made use with her assignments.
Impact on the Falls Prevention Team
The team praised Renuka for her work and were enthusiastic to implement our recommendations for improving practice, these included changes in the ways they collected data and the inclusion of some behavioural change techniques to increase adherence. The following week we received an email confirming the changes made. It was rewarding to see our work had led to a direct, immediate, and practical, societal impact.
We can recommend the scheme as it provided an opportunity to co-create with the student and an NHS team that has led to a positive outcome that we hope in time will be shown to improve patient care. It also gave new insights into the factors that facilitate implementation of changes in an NHS team.
Dr Samuel Nyman and Louise Fazakarley