Maria Katsarou has been working as a Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) since 1999 and became a specialist in dysphagia in 2006. She currently works as the Dysphagia Lead at the Royal Oldham Hospital and her clinical work mainly focuses on adults with swallowing problems.
During the CCR internship, I began to complete a scoping review which focused on my area of interest, the management of aspiration pneumonia caused by oropharyngeal dysphagia and its prevention. I attended a training session which focused on scoping vs literature review which was useful. Unfortunately, part of the review and the write up was not completed due to ill health.
The internship has been a special opportunity for me to dip my foot into research. This is something I have been wanting to do for a while, however personal and professional reasons had made this an unachievable dream for me.
I am so grateful, that as an Allied Health Professional (AHP), I was given the opportunity to conduct research on a topic that I am passionate about. I can see many clinical and financial benefits not only for our Trust, but for the NHS in general. There are usually numerous research opportunities for doctors and nurses so the fact that I was given the opportunity as an SLT made me feel recognised as a valuable member of the NCA whose voice is heard, appreciated and recognised.
I received great support from my CCR and academic mentor. The combination of their vast experience enriched my knowledge and successfully guided my research journey. I also cannot thank the library staff enough for all their support during the completion of my scoping review.
Challenges
The main challenges for me were limited time and unexpected health issues which impacted how I envisioned the completion of my internship. I found it challenging having to stick to a set day each week and unfortunately, there was no flexibility due to my working pattern, clinical demand and additional academic job role.
I also found that as somebody who is new to research, I would have benefited from more in-house research methods training earlier on in the project. Initially, I felt overwhelmed and a bit lost. I found it daunting reading articles and trying to refresh my memory on all the research terminology, however this got better with time. My mentors helped me overcome these obstacles and gave me strategies to organise my work and make progress.
Next steps
The internship opened my eyes to the world of research. The idea of research is no longer scary and I am looking forward to conducting further research in the future. My plan is to complete the scoping review and prepare it for publication.
The internship gave me the knowledge and confidence to co-lead a quality improvement (QI) project with the NCA QI team which aims to improve the provision for nutrition for nil by mouth (NBM) patients. I will now be leading on a quality improvement project aiming to secure early identification of patients with oropharyngeal dysphagia in the accident and emergency department.