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Expertise Summary
My research has examined a variety of health-related themes. Research based in community pharmacy has explored patient's views on the advice and support provided by their pharmacist whilst receiving their medication, the emergency supply procedure, whereby patients can be issued with prescription medication without first obtaining a prescription, and the roles and of long-term carers who visited the pharmacy. Other research related to the public's use of medicinal products included a study of young women's understanding of emergency contraception prior to the reclassification of emergency contraception from a prescription medicine to a pharmacy medicine. Further research based in the community has examined patient's understanding of their diabetes diagnosis, and the counselling that they receive from health professionals regarding the management of their diabetes. Research based in acute Trusts has investigated the inappropriate use of Accident and Emergency departments, the experiences of women at-risk of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer who choose to undergo genetic testing and risk-reducing, prophylactic surgery, and a Department of Health funded study investigating the re-use of single use medical devices in theatre and anaesthetic departments in the English NHS. My work for the EPSRC builds on my earlier work on the use of medical devices, and investigates the clinical utility (need) for regenerative medicine products. This work was part of a larger, multidisciplinary study, in which researchers from the University of Nottingham are working with colleagues from the Universities of Birmingham, Cambridge, Loughborough, Liverpool and Ulster. Further information of the REMEDI project can be found at: http://www.remedigc.org
I am currently working on the internal evaluation of CLAHRC NDL's knowledge brokering and boundary spanning activity. More detail about CLAHRC NDL can be found at www.clahrc-ndl.nihr.ac.uk
Past Research
Regenerative Medicine: Understanding the Market. Regenerative Medicine offers new and exciting opportunities that may transform clinical practice. This project addresses the clinical need for RM skin and cartilage products. It asks the following questons: • What RM products are currently available or are in development in the UK? • How do the commercial, academic and clinical RM sectors collaborate? • What do clinicians want from RM? • What factors influence the clinical adoption and acceptability of RM products?
The research is funded by the EPSRC, and forms part of a larger multidisciplinary study being carried out by the Universities of Nottingham, Birmingham, Cambridge, Loughborough, Liverpool and Ulster. www.remedigc.org
Re-Use of Single Use Devices. A single use device is a piece of equipment that "the manufacturer intends…to be used once and then discarded" (Medical Device Agency, 2000; emphasis added). However, research has shown that re-use of single use devices occurs, despite guidelines and policies, such as those provided by the Medical Devices Agency in the UK. This research responded to Department of Health / NPSA concerns about the implications for patient safety from the continuing re-use of medical devices intended to be used on a single occasion only. The incidence of re-use, and the rationales given for this within English NHS operating theatres and anaesthetic departments were investigated. Work involved the creation of an inventory of reused single use devices, a web-based survey and a case control qualitative interview study of users and non-users, to establish the rationales for re-use. Genetically Exceptional?: Women's Decision-making When At-risk of Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer. The research focused the person to patient process of women at-risk of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. It examined the triggers that prompted women to seek a referral to the hospital, the difficulty of identifying a sole patient within the genetics consultation, the doctor-patient relationship, the decision whether or not to undergo genetic testing, and the decision whether or not to have risk-reducing 'prophylactic' surgery.