Natalia Ochodzka, MSci Biomedical Sciences Graduate


Natalia held a summer internship between May and June of 2024 with Dr Matt Cooper. Natalia worked on a systematic review looking to identify digital toolkits used in the self-management of long-term conditions within the home and reflects on her internship here:  

Hi! I am Natalia, a recent graduate of MSci Biomedical Sciences with a Professional Placement Year programme at Newcastle University. I was also a research assistant at the School of Pharmacy for six weeks in May and June this year. My project was a scoping review focused on home-based interventions that support mental and physical health self-management in patients with multiple long-term conditions. I was based at the Newcastle Patient Safety Research Collaboration office and spent 60 hours surrounded by a wide range of researchers – from undergraduate interns, through research assistants and doctoral candidates to associates.

The nature of a literature review is very methodological; you need to follow certain steps to diligently get through thousands of publications to narrow your search to the most relevant reports, which then combined will (hopefully) suggest an answer to your research question, or at least provide you with the most relevant information on the search topic. Although it seems like an individual job, the part of the internship I enjoyed the most was interacting with my team! Daily discussions on topics related (and not so much) to our research questions made me realise that there is no one right way to do things right and that I should never limit myself to thinking in the regular, three-dimensional way. I learned distinctive styles of working, studying, and teaching, and all of it combined made me a better researcher. I saw the value and consequences of diligent work ethics, networking, and collaborating with people from outside of your study/ work circle. I am certain that this experience alongside the support received at PSRC will empower my future in clinical research, focused on physical activity and experimental medicine.

Eleanor Allen MSc Forensic Psychology Graduate

Eleanor held a summer internship between May and June of 2024 with Dr Matt Cooper. Eleanor worked on a project evaluating a hospital to home discharge service with a local charity. Eleanor reflects on her internship:

My research internship spanned six weeks and primarily involved the design and delivery of a service evaluation. This project was commissioned by a local charity and focused on hospital-to-home transitions in care. Coming from a forensic psychology background, the project area was relatively unfamiliar to me. Nevertheless, the skills required were transferable, allowing me to utilise my previous experiences as a volunteer researcher, in court, and from my research methods training. While I had some prior experience with qualitative data collection, this was the most immersed and involved I had been with a project. I was responsible for coordinating participants, data management and conducting one-to-one qualitative interviews with the charity staff members. Throughout the data collection process, we reflexively updated the interview schedule, meaning that every interview influenced future iterations of the questions. This led to effective and meaningful data collection and allowed me to incorporate my insights from the interviews. I presented my initial reflections and findings at the School of Pharmacy conference. The event gave me the opportunity to discuss the project with others from a broad range of academic disciplines, and gain insight into the research community at the school. I was particularly interested in the language used by charity staff members, especially relating this to self-identification as a barrier for carers seeking help. Often, staff held dual roles as carers and employees, and their language reflected how normalised their caring roles were. The conference was an excellent opportunity to meet other researchers and learn about ongoing projects within the school.

Overall, this internship was extremely valuable. Conducting research in an applied context was highly rewarding, and despite my background in forensics, I was able to apply my existing skills to the role. My experience and insights were valued by the research team, and I felt able to contribute meaningfully to the project. I also developed novel skills, such as communicating with a wide range of people, including participants, external partners, and academics. My qualitative interviewing and data management skills were also strengthened through the project. I am happy to say that I have now started as an assistant psychologist in an NHS Trust conducting research! I spoke about my experience with qualitative interviewing and recruitment in my application. Above anything else they seemed to like how I spoke about rapport building and connecting with people. I’m super grateful for the experience because it really built my confidence with that. Thank you Matt!

Arisha Ahmed MSc Pharmacy Graduate

Arisha held a summer internship between June and August 2024, supervised by Dr Matt Cooper. Arisha worked on a systematic review looking to identify digital toolkits used in the self-management of long-term conditions within the home and reflects on her internship here:

This summer I undertook a research internship with the School of Pharmacy at Newcastle University with Dr. Matthew Cooper as my supervisor. This project has allowed me to develop skills valuable in both research and my own professional development. My role within the team included, developing a systematic search strategy, navigating research databases (e.g. Medline, Embase, PsychINFO and CINAHL), study selection, evaluation of research quality in addition to completing a data extraction. Whilst the project was rewarding, we faced a few setbacks that taught us important lessons about the research process. For example, the screening process and data extraction took longer than initially anticipated which impacted the long-term plan of the project. These challenges taught us the importance of setting realistic deadlines and maintaining flexibility within project planning. The setbacks allowed me to truly understand the complexity of the research process as well as the importance of delegating tasks to each team member effectively to ensure a robust and timely piece of research was produced.

The findings from this research will continue to contribute to ongoing research activities within the School of Pharmacy at Newcastle University. Outcomes from this project aim to advise healthcare providers with invaluable knowledge as well as inform advancements in digital medicine. The project team are particularly interested in how to inform and guide Artificial intelligence (AI) systems to create AI driven health solutions. These innovations have the potential to significantly improve patient care and enhance clinical decision-making in the future.

As a healthcare professional, this internship has allowed me to critically analyse studies, assessing their rigor, relevance and impact to provide evidence-based care to my patients. It has also enhanced my appreciation for the vast array of research available to us in medicine. I am excited to further explore how medical policy, and advancements can be shaped by research, and I hope to pursue a career in research alongside my role in the NHS, focusing on integrating innovative digital solutions to patient care.

Co-theme Lead Professor Adam Todd of “Safer management of polypharmacy in multiple long-term conditions” and Professor Clare Bambra of “Safer Management of Multiple Long-Term Conditions in Disadvantaged Communities” co-authored a recent article in the BMJ Open “Ecological study of the association between the English national vaccination programme and area deprivation inequalities in COVID-19 mortality“

The paper concludes that inequalties in COVID-19 mortality rates could be significantly reduced by the National COVID-19 vaccination strategies. However barries to vaccination uptake in the most deprived areas need to be overcome if more is to be acheived.

Professor Clare Bambra and Professor Adam Todd

Kayleigh Davison Lead Advanced Pharmacist Practioner and NIHR In-Practice Fellow, Newcastle University,

Supervised by Professor Andy Husband (Director of NIHR Newcastle PSRC) and Dr Anna Robinson-Barella (EDI Theme Lead for NIHR Newcastle PSRC).

Hi I am Kayleigh Davison, Lead Advanced Pharmacist Practitioner and NIHR In-Practice Fellow, Newcastle University.  I’ve recently become the only pharmacist to be awarded a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) In-Practice Fellowship, which I’ll be balancing alongside my clinical work in General Practice.  The NIHR In-Practice Fellowship is an incredible opportunity that will allow me to develop as a researcher without stepping away from my clinical work. I started working in general practice as part of the NHS pilot for Clinical pharmacists in general practice and now work as an Advanced Pharmacist Practitioner. I have always worked and wanted to work within primary care providing the first point of contact in the healthcare system for our patients providing holistic care. I have been very fortunate to develop clinically within primary care over the years under the supervision and mentorship of excellent GPs. Through this time I have developed a special interest in polypharmacy (when patients are prescribed multiple medications) and in particular over 15 regular medications. 

My research focuses on polypharmacy (when patients are prescribed multiple medications) and health literacy. Health literacy is basically how well someone can understand and use health information to make decisions. Shockingly, 61% of adults struggle with understanding basic health information. For those on many medications, this can make managing their treatments much harder. But the connection between polypharmacy and health literacy hasn’t been thoroughly explored in the literature yet. My aim is to shed some light on this issue and find ways to better support patients who may find complex medication regimens challenging.

My advice for others that may want to consider a clinical academic career is to start talking to your colleagues in academic institutes about your ideas or opportunities that may be available. There is also a lot of support available via National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and within our region we are fortunate to have NHIP academy who supported me alongside the academics within the Newcastle Pharmacy school throughout my application process explaining the different fellowship options to giving me feedback on drafts, the academy was there every step of the way.

NIHR Newcastle PSRC, Professor Annette Hand

On a dull and foggy Thursday afternoon I travelled down to the House of Lords in London to represent the Newcastle NIHR PSRC for the launch of the National State of Patient Safety Report (2024). This report, first published two years ago, is produced by the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London and is commissioned by the charity Patient Safety Watch. The report assesses the state of patient safety within the NHS, using all available data, and provides a detailed picture of the national state of patient safety in England.

After making my way through security I was ushered up a grand and spiralling staircase to the beautiful River Room to mingle with academics, researchers, politicians and charity staff, all personally invited due to their connection to improving patient safety. The event was hosted by Professor Lord Ara Darzi, Co-Director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation, who informed us that unfortunately there had been a decline in 12 out of the 22 metrics that had been reassessed. Lord Darzi stated that “Our latest report on patient safety in England reveals alarming declines…The NHS is now falling behind leading nations in patient safety. We urgently need to address these issues to repair the health service and provide high quality care for all patients and their families.”

   

He provided some of the headlines of the report which are:

Whilst these are all stark statistics Lord Darzi eloquently illustrated the personal impact of this report stating that we must never forget that behind every statistic outlined in this report, is a life.  A life cut short, or seriously impaired. A family in grief, or now consigned to be life-long carers.  He described the only way we can properly commemorate the people affected by patient safety failings is to learn and improve.

The report also highlights that the impacts of unsafe care are not spread evenly across England but are greater in the North than the South, something we are only too aware of. The report also details a complex picture of national patient safety with evidence that the health system cannot keep pace with the number of recommendations already made on it. What was reassuring was rather than adding further recommendations it was advised that a focused set of patient safety priorities must be agreed that we can all work towards, and something I expect we will hear more about this in 2025.

We also briefly heard form Jeremy Hunt, Chair of Patient Safety Watch and Baroness Merron, the Minister for Patient Safety, on their progress and commitment to the patient safety agenda. Finally, we hear from Merope Mills, a senior editor of the Guardian and patient safety campaigner, providing us with an emotional update on the progress of Martha’s Rule NHS England » NHS to roll out ‘Martha’s Rule’, and the fantastic impact this is already having to so many lives within the NHS.  

I had plenty to reflect on during my long journey home, and whilst the report does provide some very sobering statistics, I know that together we can change this trend and make a real difference to patient safety outcomes. 

Read the report: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/stories/National-State-Patient-Safety-2024 

Lauren Lawson and Radin Karimi, NIHR Newcastle PSRC Safet Integrated Health and Social Care Environments & Safer management of polypharmacy in multiple long-term conditions Theme, PhD students.

The NIHR Academy Member’s Conference, held in Leeds on the 19th and 20th of November 2024, brought together researchers at all career stages to network and learn more about work supported by the NIHR. This year’s theme, Research Impact: Beginning with the End, emphasised planning for meaningful communication of research findings to diverse audiences.

A highlight of the event was the skills workshop led by Dr Oli Williams and Dr. Joe Langley on creative methods for impact. Here, we saw examples of creative projects, including evidence-based role-play scenarios given to participants to reconstruct serious incident investigations, encouraging empathy and insight. Another innovative project used a 3D model of a leg to visualise the effects of ‘pyjama paralysis’ on muscle mass in hospitals, and uneven-soled shoes illustrated the impact on balance. These creative approaches showcased how researchers can engage audiences and make their findings resonate, inspiring new ways to share and develop research. 

NIHR Newcastle PSRC PhD students Faiza Yaha, Lauren Lawson and Radin Karimi

The second day of the NIHR Academy Member’s Conference kicked off with an exciting and creative networking session using LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY. Attendees worked in groups to answer impact-related questions by building LEGO models, sparking new ideas and fresh perspectives on research challenges. This interactive activity highlighted how stepping outside traditional methods can inspire innovative solutions and stronger collaboration.

A standout moment was the keynote speech by Dr. Raphael Olaiya, known for his role on CBBC’s Operation Ouch! and as a data scientist in the NHS. Dr. Olaiya shared how he combines his expertise in science with engaging communication to reach broad audiences, encouraging researchers to think about how they share their work in meaningful ways.

The conference left attendees motivated to explore creative approaches to making their research more inclusive and impactful. It was a strong reminder of the power of collaboration and innovation in driving research that makes a real-world difference.

Written by Ayesha Sahar, Research Associate, Artificial intelligence and data science in multiple long-term conditions theme.

In recent months, I have focused on developing models to predict patterns and uncover relationships in large datasets, particularly in healthcare. For example, understanding why certain health conditions often co-occur or how long-term medication prescriptions affect patients over time can be challenging. Data modeling provides a solution by analyzing historical data to identify and predict these connections. 

One method I have explored is topic modeling, which organizes complex datasets into groups or “topics.” In healthcare, this might mean identifying clusters of related conditions—such as diabetes and hypertension frequently occurring together—or grouping treatments and prescriptions commonly used for managing these conditions. This helps researchers and clinicians make informed decisions, whether tailoring treatment plans for individual patients or designing studies to explore new healthcare solutions. 

To enhance these insights, I have also employed Principal Component Analysis (PCA). PCA reduces the complexity of large datasets by identifying clusters of related variables (or components) that explain the most variance in the data. This approach simplifies the relationships between numerous conditions and prescriptions, making the data more manageable and meaningful. 

However, raw PCA results can be difficult to interpret. That’s where varimax rotation plays a critical role. This mathematical technique adjusts PCA components to make them more distinct and interpretable. Instead of overlapping clusters, varimax rotation sharpens the focus, clearly linking specific conditions to corresponding treatments. 

By combining these methods, my work simplifies the complexity of healthcare data, transforming it into actionable insights. These models not only reveal patterns but also support better clinical decisions, enabling healthcare providers to design effective, patient-centered care pathways. As we refine these approaches, the potential to improve both research and patient outcomes grows exponentially.