My experience as an NIHR School for Primary Care Research intern: a pharmacy student’s perspective

Loreta Valatka

 

 

by Loreta Valatka, Third Year Pharmacy Student, University of Bath

 

My internship experience

The Carry Naloxone Somerset project, led by Dr Jenny Scott, was the main focus of my 2023 research summer internship at the University of Bristol’s Centre for Academic Primary Care (CAPC). The aim of the project is to encourage people in Somerset who may experience or witness an overdose to carry naloxone – a first aid medicine that can be supplied without prescription to prevent an opioid overdose from being fatal.

Before the launch of the campaign, I analysed survey data to write a report about the possession and carriage of naloxone, as well as overdose experiences amongst Somerset Drug and Alcohol Service (SDAS) users. Post launch, I was responsible for follow-ups with the 23 pharmacies that had signed up so far. This was to ensure all participating members of the pharmacy teams … Read more

Treatment decision-making in advanced kidney disease: an international collaborative workshop on future directions

By Dr Lucy Selman, Associate Professor in Palliative and End of Life Care, Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol

On Thursday 8 June 2023, an expert meeting was held at the University of Bristol, on treatment decision-making in advanced kidney disease. The meeting brought together renal and palliative care clinicians and researchers specialising in the area from across the UK with colleagues from Harvard University and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, with two guests from Boston coming to Bristol to attend in person.

The aim of the event was to share research and clinical practice models related to treatment decision-making in advanced kidney disease – an area in which the partnering teams have complementary expertise.

The event was led by Dr Lucy Selman, Associate Professor of Palliative and End-of-Life Care at the University of Bristol in collaboration with Professor James Tulsky, Professor of Medicine at … Read more

Confessions of a NIHR Knowledge Mobilisation Research Fellow

by Dr Lesley Wye
Senior Research Fellow
Centre for Academic Primary Care

 

For 25 years, I have been a frustrated researcher. Like many, I came into the field of research to make a difference. But as the years passed, I realised that research had little influence on healthcare policy making or practice. I wanted to do something, so in 2009 I applied for a NIHR post-doctoral fellowship to skill up research teams to make a bigger impact. The feedback on my (unsuccessful) application was that researchers just had to publish in the BMJ and things would change (if only!).

Imagine my delight when a few short years later, the NIHR Knowledge Mobilisation Research Fellowship scheme was launched. Its aim was to create a “cadre of knowledge mobilisers”, proficient both in the practice and research of knowledge mobilisation (or ways of sharing knowledge). In 2014, I became one of them.… Read more

‘Researchers: To make an impact, write less and talk more!’

by Lesley Wye
Knowledge Mobilisation Fellow & Senior Research Fellow
Centre for Academic Primary Care

I have been a researcher for over two decades. In that time, lamentations about the limited influence of research evidence have grown. But I think we researchers are largely to blame. We steadfastly insist on disseminating our knowledge in ways that we know don’t work.

Researchers usually write scientific papers, because publication is a key career performance metric. But scientific papers are read and digested by other scientists, not those who can act on our findings. Our ethnographic study showed how and why research doesn’t reach policymakers, like healthcare commissioners.

We found that local healthcare commissioners cannot retrieve papers from many scientific journals, as they often do not have passwords or subscriptions. Although open access publication helps, commissioners usually use Google, where scientific papers often do not appear – even if open access. If a … Read more