Tag Archives: quality improvement

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Julie Pattinson joins CaHRU

Julie Pattinson joined the CaHRU team this autumn as a research assistant from the University of Nottingham, Division of Epidemiology and Public Health Research (UK centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies; UKCTAS). PHOTOShe has a keen interest in behavioural addictions and her recent research explored electronic cigarette shops and users across the East Midlands. Julie has recently submitted her PhD, entitled, ‘UK Older Adult Gambling Behaviour; Evaluating Psychological and Physical Health as Predictive Risk Factors for Problem Gambling Behaviour’ at the University of Lincoln.

Julie was awarded £60,000 funding by the Responsible Gambling Trust UK to complete her PhD thesis. She also completed her MSc in Clinical Research (2009-2011) and BSc (Honours) in Psychology with Clinical Psychology (2006-2009) at the University of Lincoln.

Julie has extensive knowledge in quantitative and qualitative methodologies specifically Grounded Theory and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. She is currently is working on research led by Prof Siriwardena exploring the reasons for variations in performance in the Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners (MRCGP) general practice licensing exam, specifically the Applied Knowledge Test (AKT).

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CaHRU at SAPC Annual Scientific Meeting in Dublin 2016

Despina A team from CaHRU, Dr Coral Sirdifield, Dr Jo Middlemass, Despina Laparidou and Professor Niro Siriwardena, attended the 45th Annual Scientific Meeting of the National Society of Academic Primary Care (SAPC) held at Dublin Castle from 6th-8th July where they gave oral, elevator and poster presentations. The conference opening plenary was given by Prof Margaret Cupples from Belfast who spoke on non-pharmacological interventions for cardiovascular prevention. After parallel session and posters Prof Chris Dowrick delivered the 3rd Helen Lester memorial lecture on his work on depression and mental illness, and this was followed by a drinks reception at the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland.

JoDespina Laparidou (above right) gave an oral presentation on challenges for carers of people with dementia and their support needs from health and social care providers. Jo Middlemass (left) gave an elevator presentation on perceptions and experiences of telemonitoring in older patients with multimorbidity. Niro Siriwardena presented on behalf of Jolien Vos on personal care networks of older people with multimorbidity. Coral Sirdifield presented her poster entitled ‘What does qualitative research on patients’ experiences tell us about how to support safer prescribing of benzodiazepines and and z-drugs?’ Dr Zahid Ashgar’s Dublinposter entitled ‘Suspected cross-sectional study of factors associated with transport to hospital after a suspected convulsion or seizure’ was also presented at the conference.

While they were there, the team also had a little time to sample the cultural delights of Dublin including open air music, Irish dancing and the lively Temple Bar, culminating in an enjoyable conference dinner on Thursday evening.

By Jo Middlemass

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CaHRU presents at College Research Showcase

Members of the CaHRU team recently attended the College of Social Science Research Showcase at the University of Lincoln on 4 July 2016. The event aimed to present the work being undertaken across the College of Social Science. The day started with registration and a poster-viewing session. Posters portrayed research from a variety of areas, ranging from animal and comparative psychology, “Dogs and humans respond to emotionally competent stimuli by producing different facial actions” (Catia Correia Caeiro, Dr Kun Guo, Prof Daniel Mills) to other topics from the Schools of Psychology, Health & Social Care and Sport & Exercise Science.

WP_20160704_09_36_33_RichThe rest of the day included presentations from across the College of Social Science, with Dr Jo Middlemass (pictured right) giving the first presentation of the day on her innovative work on the EU funded CHROMED project (Clinical Trials for Elderly Patients with Multiple Diseases), entitled “Perceptions and experiences of tele-monitoring in older patients with multi-morbidity- a qualitative study”. Other CaHRU members also gave excellent presentations including Mohammed Iqbal (“A non-randomised control study to investigate the effectiveness of a novel pain assessment tool for use by ambulance clinicians: improving prehospital pain management”), Dr Zahid Asghar (“Exploratory Cross-Sectional Study of Factors Associated with Transport to Hospital in Patients with Suspected Convulsions presenting to Ambulance Services”), WP_20160704_12_33_22_RichJoseph Akanuwe ( pictured left “Exploring service user and practitioner perspectives of QCancer use in primary care consultations”), Viet-Hai Phung (“Delivering ambulance service care that meets the needs of EU Accession migrants in Lincolnshire”), Fiona Togher (“The use of cognitive interviews to enhance the quality of a Patient Reported Experience Measure (PREM) for use in NHS ambulance services”), Dr Stephanie Armstrong (“Network exploring the Ethics of Ambulance based clinical Trials (NEAT)”), and Despina Laparidou (“Challenges for carers of people with dementia and their support needs from health and social care providers: a qualitative study”). Overall, the event was an excellent opportunity for all researchers to present their work and ‘showcase’ the wonderful projects taking place within CaHRU.

A quick break for a final session of poster viewing was followed by the keynote speaker, Prof Martin Tovee from the School of Psychology, giving an excellent talk on “Body Image, Eating Disorders and the Media”. The day was brought to its close with a reception, where delegates had the opportunity to further discuss the presentations given earlier and share thought-provoking ideas.

By Despina Laparidou

 

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CaHRU Spring 2016 Newsletter

CaHRU Website

The latest edition of the CaHRU Newsletter (Spring 2016) was published in July 2016. The newsletter presents the work of the research centre over the previous three months and includes articles from the CaHRU blog covering publications, conferences and funding. The newsletter is written by members of the CaHRU team and produced by Sue Bowler, CaHRU administrator. [su_document url=”https://communityandhealth.dev.lincoln.ac.uk/files/2016/07/CaHRU-Newsletter-Spring-2016.pdf” responsive=”no”]Multi-morbidity, goal-oriented care, the community and equity[/su_document]

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PINCER project showcased at Health Foundation Scaling up Improvement event

PINCER_HFmidtermeventMembers of the Scaling up PINCER project team (PINCER is a pharmacist-led information technology intervention for reducing clinically important errors in medication management in general practice), Prof Niro Siriwardena, Janice Wiseman, Dr Sarah Rodgers, Chris Rye and Despina Laparidou, recently attended (on June 29th) the Scaling-Up Improvement Programme Mid-point Event in London. The event was organised by the Health Foundation, the main funder for the six participating projects. The focus of the meeting was on evaluation and sustainability of improvement.

PowerPoint PresentationThe day was designed to be as interactive as possible and teams were asked to bring materials with them, such as information, pictures, posters, leaflets, data, etc., to put up on a pin board, with the purpose of giving a visual story of their project for other teams to view during and between sessions. This created a wonderful opportunity for teams to learn about each other’s projects and discuss issues (such as successes and challenges) around their progress.

A number of interesting talks were presented around evaluating and sustaining scaling-up improvements, such as the sessions facilitated by Tom Ling/Bryn Garrod (RAND Europe) and Kathy Elliott (NCAT) respectively. One of the most stimulating and thought-provoking sessions, “Influencing for sustainability”, asked delegates to split into two large groups and have one person from each project team ‘make a case’ for their project, facilitated by Carl Smith (Frontline) and Jamie Ripman (Practive). At the end of each brief presentation, the rest of the delegates provided feedback on their performance and suggestions on how to improve their style and adjust the context of the presentation to better fit the target audience’s agenda.

At the end of the day, Sally Williams (Frontline) and Valentina Karas (the Health Foundation) brought the event to its close by reflecting on the day and discussing future actions.

By Despina Laparidou