Rebecca Jeffcott is an Occupational Therapist within the Greater Manchester Spinal Cord Injury Outreach Team. Her clinical role involves leading advanced assessments, and supporting the establishment of occupational therapy management regimes, for patients with complex spinal conditions and spinal cord injury. Her blog about her internship with our Centre for Clinical and Care Research looks at how it allowed her to explore and develop research ideas.
I have a special interest in the prevention of secondary complications, particularly within the upper limb, within acute which can have an impact on rehabilitation and quality of life.
The initial stages of the internship allowed time away from clinical practice to explore my area of interest. This helped me to identify priorities, focus the topic and provide structure for the internship. Subsequently I identified learning and development needs to take the project forward.
Training
The internship provided many training opportunities provided by the CCR and external organisations:
- Support with literature searching, critical appraisal and creating a search strategy (Northern Care Alliance (NCA) Knowledge and Library Service)
- Developing a research question (National Institute for Health and care Research (NIHR) TV)
- Introduction to questionnaire design and delivery (NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North West)
- Scoping review methodology (University of Salford)
- Introduction to Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (CCR)
- Introduction to qualitative interviewing (Social Research Association)
- “Write Here Write Now” workshop (NHS Research and Development North West)
- Creating an outstanding poster (Chartered Society of Physiotherapy)
Mentorship
The internship was self-directed and initially I felt a little lost and overwhelmed with the possibilities. An incredibly valuable aspect of the internship was the mentorship provided. My mentors provided guidance and alternative perspectives to shape the project which ultimately gave me the confidence to take my research forward. They facilitated links with other researchers to grow ideas and expand my research network. I have also developed my network by attending a monthly research group, CCR events and simply by having dedicated time to reach out of others working within the area of my interest. The encouragement and guidance received helped to create a vision of research career pathways that I could pursue in the future.
During the internship I completed a scoping review of the evidence for the use of continuous passive motion (CPM) of the upper limb within spinal cord injury. I then created a protocol for the use of the device and identified outcome measures to capture quantitative data. With guidance from my mentors and research network the project grew to exploring psychological impact and acceptance of the CPM. I have been able to develop a patient questionnaire based on acceptance theories which I am currently gathering patient feedback on.
Networks
With the pressures of daily clinical practice, it is challenging to progress with research ideas. The internship has provided valuable protected time to complete the background research and protocol writing required for the safe introduction of a new device. This has highlighted the importance of networks and collaborative working to add richness and quality to projects.
Alongside the CPM project I have been able to finish existing research activities, such writing an article on upper limb splinting. It has also provided the skills and inspiration to plan for future service level research projects.
Next steps
I now hope to integrate the research skills I have gained into my current clinical teams, for example hosting regular journal clubs and evidence-based reviews to shape and develop clinical services.
I will be continuing with the CPM project, collecting data and exploring the benefits for patients with spinal cord injury. The aim is to share my work through posters and presentations. I have started a second service level project with a focus on the introduction of upper limb electrical stimulation for acute spinal cord injury. I hope to find further opportunities and grants to help me to grow the research projects further.