THE DRUGS DON'T WORK - Telling the truth about antibiotics - Summer 2018 - Imperial College London
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
Summer 2018
THE
DRUGS
Photo copyright Juan Manuel Navarro
DON’T
WORK
Telling the truth about antibiotics
Summer 2018
Everyone in the department was delighted to hear
that Imperial College will establish a world-leading
centre for children’s health and wellbeing in the
White City area of London thanks to a £25m gift
from Ms Marit Mohn. The donation will create the
Mohn Centre for Children’s Health and Wellbeing at
Imperial’s School of Public Health in the White City.
The Centre is founded on the premise that all
children deserve the best chances in life. By preventing chronic disease and
infection in the early years of life, we can ensure that future generations
have every opportunity to thrive and succeed. The donation will support
pioneering research, education, and community engagement that will
improve the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of childhood illness on
both a local and global scale. Staff from the department will play a key role
in this work and we look forward to the establishment of the new centre.
Professor Azeem Majeed
Head of Department of Primary Care and Public Health
Imperial College London
We welcome feedback on the
Privacy Notice
newsletter and are taking
submissions for future issues. ARCHIVE
Email your news, events,
achievements and stories to us.
pcphnewsletter@imperial.ac.uk PCPH eMagazine Team
Subscribe Unsubscribe Javier Gallego
Mehrosa Memood
Copyright © 2018 Department of Primary Care & Public Health, Imperial College London
In the News
Photo Copyright COM SALUD - Creative Commons
Patients value the quality of care they receive from
their GP over extended access
In recent years, the NHS has invested in 'extended hours' schemes, whereby
general practices are encouraged to open beyond their contracted hours of
8am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday. In a study published in the British Journal
of General Practice, we examined associations between overall experience of
general practice and patient experience of making appointments and
satisfaction with opening hours using data from the General Practice Patient
Survey.
We found that patient experience of We concluded that policymakers in
making appointments and satisfaction England should not assume that recent
with opening hours were only modestly policies to improve access will result in
associated with overall experience. large improvements in patients’ overall
Patient satisfaction was most strongly experience of general practice.
associated with GP interpersonal
quality of care.
The article was covered in Pulse
WHO CC for Public Health Training income country health systems. Ben
& Education Simms, Chief Executive of THET, said "I am
delighted that Matt Harris has agreed to
WHO Collaborating Centre for Public become an Honorary Adviser to THET.
Health Education and Training has Matt has been making a sizeable
successfully bid to offer support to the contribution to the development of our
Iraqi National Council for Accreditation of thinking for many years now and has been
Medical Colleges. The bid was announced a key informant and influencer in our
and will be founded by WHO. The work policy work, contributing to the thinking
commenced in July and will be an expressed in our latest report 'In Our
important contribution to advancing Mutual Interest'.”
medical education in the Far East.
Matthew has also been appointed as a
In August 2018 WHO CC will run its very Commissioner on the new Health and
popular Advanced Leadership and Wellbeing Innovation Commission Inquiry,
Management for Health training. It will be led by the International Longevity Centre
delivered in London to 18 Chinese
delegates, who are heads of various
clinical units from Chinese hospitals.
For more information on the course
please visit our website.
New Roles - Matthew Harris
Matthew Harris, Clinical Senior Lecturer in
Public Health, has been appointed as an
Honorary Advisor to the Tropical Health
Education Trust in recognition of his
research into Reverse Innovation - the
adoption of innovations from low-income
countries into the NHS. THET is
responsible for managing all of DfID’s
funded International Health Partnerships under Baroness Sally Greengross. The
between NHS Trusts and low- and middle– pioneering Commission will gather
income country health systems. This evidence from experts across four main
appointment brings the Reverse themes 1) Retirement communities 2) The
Innovation research agenda ever closer to built environment 3) Physical and Mental
the principles and practices of health 4) Social connections including
international health partnerships and isolation and loneliness. It will explore
overseas volunteering, increasing ‘what works’ in terms of health innovation
awareness and understanding of the and how good ideas can diffuse across
opportunities available to learn from low- health and social care, and present its
findings in the Autumn.
Sophie Coronini-Cronberg joins the of course he was personally delighted,
board grateful (and astonished) by the honour,
he was also especially pleased that the
The North West London (NWL)
academic discipline of medical ethics had
Sustainability & Transformation Plan (STP)
been also thus acknowledged and
describes the sector’s shared ambition
honoured by the BMA.
across health and local government to
create an integrated health and care Child Health Unit News
system that actively enables people to live
well and be well. Delivery Area 1 is being Exciting news for the Child Health Unit
co-chaired includes the announcement of a major
by the pledge for Child Health Research. Marit
Chief Mohn has pledged £27Million for Child
Executive Health Research – one of 4 themes for the
of Harrow School of Public Health fundraising of
Council £100 million. Although much of this will
and a local be invested in building the infrastructure
CCG and is at the new White City Campus, there will
tasked with be significant funding for academic
agreeing capacity building in children’s research at
on a Imperial SPH!
Welcome to Dougal Hargreaves who has
joined CHU as a new Senior Lecturer in
collaborative prevention strategy across Child Public Health from the Health
NWL. It has recently been relaunched and Foundation/ UCL where he has completed
will be focussing on childhood obesity,
alcohol, and homelessness for the next
year. Sophie Coronini-Cronberg joins the
Programme Board as the Acute Trust
representative, and also the alcohol
champion.
Raanan Gillon to be President of
the British Medical Association
In June 2018, the BMA's Representative
Body meeting in Brighton elected Raanan
Gillon, Emeritus Professor of Medical
Ethics at ICL, to be 'President Elect' of the
British Medical Association. He will take a three-year fellowship exploring better
office as President of the BMA in June ways of measuring child health and health
next year. Professor Gillon said that while care quality of children.
Telling the truth about anti biotics: benefits, harms and moral duty in prescribing for children in Photo copyright Juan Manuel Navarro - colour altered
In a paper published in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy,
we discuss key issues in applying an evidence-based approach to the
prescribing of antibiotics to children.
Antimicrobial resistance is a growing resulting from resistance. The threat of
threat to global health, yet antibiotics are AMR and its potential for harm to
frequently prescribed in primary care for individuals, both now and in the future,
acute childhood illness, where there is provide strong moral justification for
evidence of very limited clinical avoiding unnecessary antibiotic
effectiveness. Moral philosophy supports prescription, and doctors should feel
the need for doctors to consider wider confident in applying principles of AMR in
society, including future patients, when the care of children.
treating present individuals, and it is
clearly wrong to waste antibiotics in Evidence of clinical effectiveness is key to
situations where they are largely clinically decision making about antibiotic
ineffective at the expense of future prescribing in acute childhood illness.
generations. Numerous other factors influence parents’
desire for antibiotics and clinicians’
Doctors should feel confident in applying inclination to prescribe, and consideration
principles of antibiotic stewardship when of benefits and harms highlights perceived
treating children in primary care, but they benefits of antibiotics other than clinical
must explain these to parents. Provision effectiveness. However, it is essential to
of accurate, accessible information about recognize that antibiotics are not a
the benefits and harms of antibiotics is solution to social problems such as
key to an ethical approach to childcare. Nor should they be used to
antimicrobial stewardship and to avoid conflict between parents and
supporting shared decision making. clinicians, or to mitigate communication
Openness and honesty about drivers for failures. Their purpose is to treat bacterial
antibiotic requests and prescribing may infection, and where this is likely absent
further allow parents to have their or self-limiting other means should be
concerns heard and help clinicians to found to address concerns of parents and
develop with them an understanding of clinicians.
shared goals.
An ethical approach to AMS with children
All this requires adequate time in the with acute illness in primary care requires
consultation; for both a thorough clinical openness and honesty on the part of
assessment of the child; and a full professionals, providing accurate and
discussion with the parents about the accessible evidence on the pros and cons
appropriateness, benefits and risks of of antibiotics. Focusing on the shared goal
antibiotic treatment. of benefit to the child, this will support
the fully informed involvement of parents
In 1945, Fleming highlighted the potential and their children in decisions about
for bacteria to develop resistance to antibiotics. This must be underpinned by
antibiotics, and called for restraint in their protected time in the consultation to
use, suggesting that ‘thoughtless’ persons discuss these issues, as acknowledged in
‘playing’ with antibiotics could hold moral the Five Year Forward View and other
responsibility for adverse consequences policy documents.
Photo copyright Dima V - colour altered
The BMJ International Editorial Board Meeting took place on June 6 and 7, with wonderful board members convening for two days in London, learning about what we can do better to serve British doctors, readers and international audiences. We discussed the importance of open science, disinvestment from health harming industry and replacing impact factors with meaningful measures that actually show impacts of the health professions.
By Professor Sonia Saxena We considered how to make the BMJ local and international, and its focus on impact factor, driven by university sponsors from whom most of the financial support comes from. In the evening of day one, Catherine Otto, editor of Heart journal, proposed a motion that preprints of research will harm patients, at the BMJ Editorial board dinner. She turned a few minds but Paul Lind and others had a narrow victory at the BMJ debate in favour of making science available without peer review. We celebrated the campaign successes of the BMJ and considered their principle of disinvesting from health harming industry. We mourned the passing of our dear friend Doug Altman whose message endures: “We need less research, better research, and research done for the right reasons. Abandoning using the number of publications as a measure of ability would be a start”. Doug Altman, BMJ Editorial, The scandal of poor medical research, 1994. Among the international editorial members and health representatives from across the globe were BMJ Editor Dr Fiona Godlee (2nd row, 4th from right), Quality Safety Editor Mary Dixon Woods (2nd row, 6th from right), Executive Editor for Content Kamran Abbasi (Back Row, far right) and Prof Sonia Saxena (Front row, 3rd from left)
OUR SCH But this time
HOOL TRIP the school came to us….
By Foundation Year Doctors Michael Du, Mohammed Said Noor & Alexander Harding
We are three final year medical students who have just completed
our elective in medical education with the Imperial College Primary
Health Care Department. Throughout our time one of the concepts
we focused on was social accountability; how we could better our
approach as medical students and as a university to improve medical
outreach.
Medical outreach plays an essential role in school was next door to Hammersmith
the pursuit of good public health. Not only Hospital. This was a perfect opportunity to
is it important to educate the public on organise a fun, stress free and logistically
simple yet vital pieces of medical simple school trip.
knowledge, it is a very effective way of
Our team consisted of multiple members
inspiring the next generation to become
of staff and medical students. Together,
tomorrow’s doctors. Underpinning
we worked on organising two hours of
medical outreach is the philosophy of
interactive teaching for the pupils from
social accountability in medical schools, a
the local Primary School. We organised a
concept which describes the importance
circuit of 7 stations consisting of both
of medical schools catering to the health
theory and practical skills. These stations
needs of their community, both in
included venepuncture, CPR, Ultrasound
healthcare and education.
and simulated laparoscopic surgery. This
At Imperial, societies such as ICSM was an opportunity to provide an exciting
(Imperial College School of Medicine) and memorable school trip for the pupils
Vision do fantastic work in the local and to infuse them with an interest in the
community and make valuable medical sciences. We are influenced
contributions to the applications of many heavily by those around us, especially
aspiring medical students – in particular, when we are of primary school age.
those from less affluent backgrounds. One Parents, teachers, friends and other adults
of the main barriers in organising big all play a role in developing our interests
outreach events is logistics. Often, events and aspirations. The event was a definite
need to recruit a large group of success. The pupils had an excellent time
volunteers, advertise heavily and obtain a and were extremely engaged throughout.
high number of well-paying sponsors. It was very clear many had outstanding
Furthermore, these events often require scientific brains and were able to ask
months of preparation from a committee. many thought-provoking questions
This is why we decided to bring medical throughout the day. Running the stations
outreach to a class of roughly 30 Year 6 was also very enjoyable and the medical
pupils, specifically a class of pupils whosestudents found it very rewarding. Medical students often find themselves questioning their usefulness in healthcare settings and events like this truly help affirm their value to themselves. Logistically, everything was very straightforward, and the school employed all the necessary precautions with regards to travelling in school trips. Large clinical skills labs are well suited to events like this and the staff working there said they were happy to run similar events in the future. We believe that outreach events of this kind are simple to run, socially accountable and hugely beneficial to the participants, both school pupils and students. The school was very happy with how everything went and wishes it to become an annual event. We look forward to doing more collaborations in the future.
EAS FH Studies Collaboration (FHSC): 2018 milestones EAS (European Atherosclerosis Society) FHSC (Familial Hypercholesterolaemia Studies Collaboration) is an exciting international project initiated in 2015 by Professor Kausik Ray in the ICPP unit, that aims to tackle the burden of FH by building a global FH Registry with data from cohorts all over the world. Thanks to the efforts of the FHSC Coordinating Team and the support of the EAS, the project immediately gained a huge international interest. The past three years have seen a rapid growth of the number of participating countries and FH investigators, driven by the desire to achieve a global policy change in the management of FH as well as to receive support for improving the FH care system in their countries. 2018 has been a very active and productive year for FHSC, with several achievements that helped consolidate the leading role of the international collaboration in the field
of FH: 1) the project has hit 70 participating countries (illustrated in the map above), 83 National Lead investigators and 6 members of the Coordinating Unit; 2) the online FH Web Registry was launched in January: the IT team at the coordinating centre designed and implemented a secure IT platform to host and merge FH data using dedicated complex algorithms; 3) May 2018, following the 86th EAS Congress in Lisbon, all the National Lead Investigators attended the FHSC Steering Committee Meeting (pictured right), a very successful international meeting arranged by the FHSC Coordinating Team as an opportunity to exchange experience and progress updates, strengthen the network and lay the foundation for the future development of the project.
From left: Dr Mandeep Dhingra, Yuko Ota & Dr Maham Stanyon
Third year GP Trainee, Yuko Ota, compares the GP experience in the UK with that of Japan, where patients appear to have more choice at the outset.
This was my first time to visit UK surgeries. I was amazed at how
differently we work as GPs in the UK versus in Japan. I was very
impressed by how GPs in the UK act as strict gatekeepers working
‘under pressure not to refer’ and how the flow of all the patients is
tightly controlled under the appointment systems. This is totally
different from Japan where patients have choices to visit GPs or
any specialty clinics any time without making an appointment.
I imagine that being in charge of wasn’t for the following working system it
thousands of patients at each surgery may have not been possible to reach the
must be an enormous workload for all the standard:
GPs in the UK but I could see that if it
1) Having several GPs working at each surgery (in Japan there
are usually one or two GPs seeing around thirty to fifty
patients in one session).
2) Other professionals such as nurses and pharmacists see
patients independently (in Japan only doctors are allowed to
prescribe).
3) Systems that allow GPs to work within the surgery for as
much as possible, such as telephone consultations, texting
patients and electronic prescriptions (all of which we do not
have in Japan).
4) As depicted by most GPs’ first question to their patients
“What have you tried so far?”, patients are well educated to
use over-the-counter medications and other remedies before
visiting GPs (in Japan, visiting a GP is usually the patient’s first
action, presumably because of easy accessibility and
expensive OTC medications).
Cultures regarding home visits also differ population being above 65 years old, and
greatly between the UK and Japan. I was many of the frail elderly live on their own
surprised to know that home visits by GPs or together as a couple both with
are offered to very limited patients in the dementia. We as GPs and the Japanese
UK, and how district nurses and foreign national health insurance system prefer to
caregivers (!!) are involved in the care of offer regular home visits for immobile
patients with terminal illnesses. Japan has patients, regardless of their disease
a rapidly ageing society with 27.3% of the severity. It surely increases our workload,I enjoyed attending VTS (Vocational
Training Scheme) with GP trainees.
Meeting colleagues from the training
programme and sharing information every
week must be very encouraging and
helpful for the trainees to keep up their
motivation!
Undergraduate education at Imperial was
another great surprise. I was particularly
amazed by the performance of Year 5
students at mini PACES, where they all
performed like skilled GPs tackling
complex patients. I strongly felt that in the
UK, training to become a GP does not
start upon entering a GP training
programme but in fact from the very early
stages of medical school, which was also
but I find home visits very tempting as apparent from the case presentation
each patient’s house is like a treasure given by a student at Crown Street surgery
trove filled with clues that will help me to and Dr Mountjoy’s innovative
imagine the patient’s life history and gain dermatology class.
further holistic understanding.
Research on ‘Social isolation and Loneliness’
Thanks to Dr Gnani (pictured above, far left), I really enjoyed working on the project on
‘social isolation and loneliness’, since it is a big issue we frequently encounter in Japanese
society too. The literature search techniques I acquired during my stay have now become
very helpful in daily practice. Until very recently, I have never been interested in becoming
an academic GP, but now it has definitely become one of my future career choices!Spotlight on… What we do
Child Health Unit CHU rounded off a great term with a fantastic meeting and picnic in Margravine Cemetery to consider different ways that we can measure the health impact of primary care on child health. What we do Our mission is to produce high-quality research that will improve health and wellbeing of children, both in the UK and internationally. Wellbeing goes beyond a mere absence of illness and links physical, mental and emotional health with the ability to be resilient or bounce back in adverse circumstances. The Child Health Unit was set up by Professor Sonia Saxena in 2013. We mainly use routinely collected data from the NHS, analyse large government surveys and comprehensive literature reviews to understand rapidly emerging health problems in the child population that will inform practice policy and public awareness. The starting point for all our research is to address problems identified by children, young people and parents and health professionals who care for them. Our work has been included in national and international guidelines and policy and has attracted public interest. We collaborate widely with clinicians and policymakers and third sector agencies to get information out into the wider community in the UK, Europe and international arenas. Why it is important Children are healthier today than at any time in history, but many child deaths are still preventable and the world population is living longer in ill health from long-term conditions such as diabetes, obesity and cancer. Better information is needed to understand how best to promote healthy behaviours so children remain healthy, and improve preventative programmes to reduce the global burden of disease in the population.
Photo by Dave Guttridge (altered)
In an article published in the Journal of the Royal Society of
Medicine, Azeem Majeed and Paul Jewell discuss the issue of
foundation doctors and specialist training. Only 43% of junior
doctors entered straight into a UK specialty training
programme after completion of their foundation programme in
2017, a substantial decrease from 71% in 2011. Given the
National Health Service in the UK is under ever-increasing
workforce pressures, this is a worrying trend. The decline in
entry to specialty training can be partly explained by the rise in
what is known as ‘the F3 year’. Concerns over this ‘junior
doctor exodus’ are not new, having been previously raised in
2010, when the figures were far more favourable than they are
now. Similar trends can also be seen at earlier stages, with
fewer school students applying to medical school, and fewer
medical students applying to the foundation programme,
indicating wider issues. To reverse this trend and the shortage
of doctors in many specialties, solutions to encourage more
foundation doctors to enter specialty training need to be
considered.
ccording to latest
Why the decline?
figures from the The decline cannot be explained by a
foundation lack of available positions as the
programme number of specialty training posts has
annual reports, increased in England since 2013. One
the proportion of reason for the decline is that many
post-foundation trainees entering foundation trainees are unsure of their
specialty training has declined year on future career path in medicine, not
year. The most concerning decline has wanting to commit to a training
been in those choosing a ‘core-training pathway very early in their career,
programme’ which make up the apprehensive of choosing the wrong
majority of training posts (core specialty. A contributing factor to this
medical, surgical, psychiatry or general may be that specialty training
practice training), undertaken by 34% applications occur early in the second
of foundation doctors in 2011, falling foundation year. The rigid structure of
by almost half to 8% in 2016.specialty training has also been However, available data suggest that
highlighted as a possible explanation. the number of doctors of any grade
However, figures show the proportion leaving the UK has remained largely
of those choosing run-through training unchanged over the last decade.
posts has remained stable since 2011 Similarly, specifically for those
at around 33%. One study found that completing the foundation
of those trainees not moving straight programme, the proportion of those
into specialty training, the most moving to work abroad is the same in
common reason cited was being 2011 as 2016.
unsure about long-term career plans
(28%), followed by wanting to However, perhaps the most worrying
experience time abroad (24%). For trend is the increase in trainees
trainees in a position of uncertainty, a wanting to take a post-foundation
flexible non-training post, in the form career break and in those leaving the
profession altogether. Lambert et al.
found that doctors surveyed three
‘…the most worrying years after graduation were
significantly more likely to cite factors
trend is the increase in related to the NHS, pay, working
conditions, work–life balance and
trainees wanting to patient care as reasons for not
remaining in the UK or in medicine.
take a post-foundation The increasing pressures on the NHS
through chronic under-funding and a
career break and in lack of hospital beds, and the
subsequent pressures on the stretched
those leaving the junior doctor workforce have left many
feeling disenfranchised. In England, the
profession altogether’ implementation of a new contract, and
the bitter dispute that followed, may
of a NHS trust grade job, or the also have contributed to low morale
equivalent outside of the UK, is an among junior doctors. These factors
increasingly desirable option. undoubtedly contribute to the number
of post-foundation doctors moving
A potential cause for greater concern is abroad, taking a career break or
the emigration of doctors, to Australia leaving the profession altogether.
and New Zealand in particular, often
highlighted in the media as a potential The impact on health
contributor to staffing shortages in the
UK. It is not uncommon for trainees to services
take these opportunities after a
natural break in medical training, This may just represent a growing
attracted by new experiences, better trend towards taking a gap year at a
pay and a better quality of life. natural break between trainingprogrammes, in which many doctors
plan to return to specialty training at a
later stage. However, despite the
increasing number of specialty training
posts, they are becoming increasingly
difficult to fill, thereby resulting in a
widening recruitment gap. This
contributes to ongoing workforce
issues within the NHS and worsening
rota gaps, compounding the problem.
This has a huge impact regionally, with
the north of England experiencing the
poorest fill rate of posts.
Possible solutions
Work needs to be done to address this
trend, which is showing no signs of
reversing. The increasing numbers of
those uncertain of which training
pathway to apply for suggests a need
for increased flexibility in training
programmes, allowing doctors to try
different specialties before committing
to a training pathway. It may be
difficult to reduce numbers of those
moving abroad, but efforts could be
made to ensure return of these
doctors to specialty training in the UK,
by ensuring working conditions in the
NHS can compete with offerings from
Australia and New Zealand. Most
importantly, the ebbing morale of
junior doctors needs to be resolved
through increased funding of the
health service and changes to health
policy, to ensure favourable working
conditions and a motivated NHS
workforce.
FULL ARTICLEPhoto by Dave Guttridge (altered)
On 6 July, members of PCPH gathered for their annual summer picnic. A chance for all the different units within the department, some of them off-campus, to come together, eat, socialise and enjoy the unusually great weather!
Public Health practitioners
have long been recognising
the need for regulating the
profession, clarifying
its definition and
framework.
Consequently, Public Health
Education requires more defined
direction in providing the
training that will equip
the Public Health
workforce with the
currently sought-after
skills and knowledge.
In response to this need, WHO EURO in partnership with ASPHER (Association of Schools of
Public Health in the European Region) and WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health
Education and Training, Imperial College London organised the ‘Expert Meeting on
Professionalization of the Public Health Workforce’. This was held on 19 June 2018 at the
Imperial College Charing Cross Campus and the invaluable support of PCPH accounted for its
success.
The agenda of the meeting focused on further developing the evolving work on
accreditation of Public Health professionals, updating already existing educational
programmes to reflect the needs in the Public Health sphere of the current markets in
European countries and creating new ones.
There has been an overall agreement that the foundation for advancing the work towards
achieving this goal needed further research into the current Public Health situation in
European countries. Establishing who the current and ideal Public Health workforce are
now, uncovering and defining employers’ requirements as to Public Health workforce and
translating this evidence into curricula, as well as trainings for Continuous Professional
Development, are burning needs.
The feedback and peer reviews on presented papers inspired lively and very constructive
discussions, which will be published in the final report of the event. The Meeting forged
partnerships between WHO CC, ASPHER and WHO EURO and PCPH, with potential future
opportunities for research work in the Public Health Workforce in the European Region.Imperial Festival 2018
If you had your
eyes folded up
could you tell
the foot bones
from the hand
bones by just
touching them?
Do you know
exactly where
the spleen is
located in the
abdomen?
Lots of keen children and their families now do…. they came in a
never-ending stream to our stall at the Imperial festival.
Notwithstanding the wet and cold weather over the weekend of 28-
29 April, South Kensington was thronged with people touring the
many stands and food stalls.
Our stall, Game of Bones, was incredibly imaginatively set up by
Noosheen Bashir and Maria Amasanti – We had a model of the
human body with organs to take out and replace and bags of bones
to feel and identify and then match against the skeleton.
A team of our
colleagues
took turns to
quiz the
children and
challenge the
adults. Much
delight and
surprise was
experienced
by us all.
Do come next year. It’s a great event!The ICL team of the Research Design Service (RDS) London hold monthly drop-in
clinics. RDS supports research teams to develop and submit high-quality applied
health and social care grant applications to National Institute for Health Research
(NIHR) and other national peer-reviewed funding programmes. If you are planning
to submit an application to get health & social care research funding, or you would
like to find out more about RDS London, come to a drop-in clinic for an informal
chat.
Visit one of our regular West London drop-in clinics on the second Tuesday of the month. Advice is
free of charge and no booking is necessary. RDS is funded by the NIHR.
Upcoming dates: 14 August, 11 September, 9th October, 13 November
1.00 pm to 3.00pm
Seminar Room (349)
3rd Floor, Reynolds Building
St. Dunstans Road
London, W6 8RP
Please note, as there are no booked appointments you may have to wait to be seen by an adviser,
please be patient and we will try to see you as soon as possible. To make the most of your time with
an adviser be prepared to give them a brief overview of your study, outlining the areas in which you
are having difficulties and where you would like support and feedback.
If you cannot make the next drop-in clinic, you can still get advice by filling out our online support
request form and an adviser will provide you with initial feedback within two weeks.SCARU Update
Using evidence based approaches for helping people
get off unnecessary medication
The Self-Care Academic Research Unit (SCARU) is collaborating with
the Leyden Academy of Vitality and Ageing and the University of
Copenhagen on a study to help people use less medication.
The LESSDRUGS project is an EIT-funded project that pilots a microlearning approach to
offer instruction on the topic of ‘lifestyle over drugs’ for seniors. Microlearning is a
promising innovative education technique utilising small ‘nuggets’ of information that
consist of short movies, infographics, quizzes, polls or slides. Nuggets can be spread through
a variety of media, social media, and can be evaluated and optimised by the number of likes,
shares and reach. This allows for an unprecedented control and feedback of the learning
experience.
This project will use a style of personalised microlearning that has been shown to be
effective in reaching the general public and impact their knowledge and behaviour.
Together with experts in medicine and prevention, the LESSDRUGS project will create these
‘learning nuggets’ with the latest scientific insights in various forms.
A pilot will create and test
personalised microlearning
around ‘lifestyle over pills’. The
information nuggets will share the
latest scientific insights on
lifestyles to prevent people from
taking pills or to reduce the
number of drugs they use, in a
scientifically-sound way. This
makes it possible to share
experiences from the
Netherlands, which has low
prescription rates, with other
European countries.
This is an exciting project, and
echoes the new Health Secretary’s
pledge to give GPs alternatives to
‘unsophisticated drugs’ and to
expand schemes to treat patients
with mental health problems
through social activities.
More on this subjectStaff Success Stories
On 19 June, The College held an event called ‘Imperial Summer Garden
Party’ to recognise staff and students who received internal awards and
honours as well as those whose exceptional work or service calls for
celebration.
Prof Azeem nominated Ms Barbara Jenna and Barbara along with many
Cerutti and Miss Jenna Mollaney this other nominees attended the event at
year for their roles in supporting the South Kensington. The Celebration was
department and the Undergraduate GP attended by many people and the
Teaching team, respectively. atmosphere was very joyful and
positive.Home & Away
A visit by Professor David Hirsh from Harvard Medical School
We had the pleasure of welcoming Prof Hirsh from Harvard Medical School to Imperial College this
month.
Prof Hirsh is a
world leader in During his visit, Prof Hirsh (pictured far left with
Longitudinal Drs Ravi Parekh & Andy McKeown) joined us in
Integrated discussions on how we are developing new
Clerkships (LICs), curricular ideas around LIC and how the
which are a new learning from these courses is also helping to
design of medical shape the ongoing curriculum review in the
education which Medical School. We were also delighted to be
move away from able to present some of the work developed by
block rotational the students on the 2 longitudinal courses, with
placements to our students able to share their experiences of
placements the courses. He also delivered a fascinating
which are integrated across specialties with the lunchtime seminar on the Growth Mindset and
common thread of continuity of the students its implications on medical student learning for
with supervisors, peers and patients. the department.
In the department we now have two We are in the planning stages of developing
longitudinal courses, the 10 – week Medicine in further exciting areas of collaboration between
the Community Apprenticeship in Year 3, and Imperial and Harvard Medical School including
the Integrated Clinical Apprenticeship in year 5. within international educational research, so
These courses have been designed and adapted watch this space!
using the literature base of LIC, and following
Watch Prof Hirsh’s lunchtime lecture
our visit last year to Harvard.
WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health Education and Training
In June over 35 MPH and Global Health stream students visited Geneva with the WHO CC team.
It has been 8 years since the start of this placements and internships. It opens doors of
popular student trip to WHO Headquarters, communication for students and experts in the
Medecins Sans Frontiers, UN, UNHCR, and Red public health field.
Cross. New to the programme this year is Gavi
(the Vaccine Alliance). The feedback, being always positive, enables
the WHO CC to get continuous support from
The trip always attracts much interest amongst the School of Public Health. As this is a very
the Masters student and this year has been a unique part of the student’s experience at ICL,
great success. It provided the students with a WHO CC is in no doubt that this will become an
summary of the learning and also offers some ongoing yearly theme for the students.
great insights into potential opportunities forMehrosa Memood Administrative Officer What is your role within the department and how long have you been here? I am part of the administration team and PA to Professors Azeem Majeed, Sonia Saxena and Christopher Millet. I also work within the RDS unit as their team administrator. I joined Imperial College London in Feb 2018. What does your role involve? Some of my duties involve Budget Projection for my three PI’s as well as uploading their work to symplectic. I am part of the termly PCPH Newsletter team, working closely with Javier Gallego and I also update some of the Units’ homepages. Furthermore, I am responsible for the winter and summer parties (yes, the picnic we just had was organised by me!). In terms of my role within the RDS team – I liaise with clients and advisors and report back to the RDS hub situated at King College. What do you enjoy most about your role? I love the variety of duties I have. No one day is ever the same for me. What strikes me the most is the abundance of information that is available to me. Medicine is a completely new field to me; therefore, it has been a challenge and a real eye-opener, and I think that’s what makes me want to learn more! I have read more about research in my 6 months here than in my three years at UNI. What were you doing prior to this/what is your background? I graduated in Psychology with Sociology and my first job was with QA Learning. I started from the bottom and worked my way up, thoroughly enjoying the ups and downs of the sales environment. It was a great experience where I learnt a lot and made some good friends along the way. The learning curve was huge, and going from being a student to hard sales was often challenging, but I had the opportunity to go on courses like the PRINCE2 and ILM (Institute of Leadership and Management). Why PCPH? When I initially applied for the admin/PA role I didn’t know what to expect from PCPH, but on researching the department I felt there was a great sense of community. I now feel very settled and everything experienced here is the opposite of the corporate world I knew. Having worked in both environments, I prefer this setting as it’s such a calm place to be. I travel in from Essex, so for me to do that, I must have a good incentive! Tell us about your outside interests? One of my biggest achievements is having and raising my daughter, Aayat. I’m learning new things about parenthood every single day! Her interests become mine. I turn into a little child when we do things together. We go horse riding, bowling and love playing in the park. The days I am not working, I’m spending my time creating new memories with my family. I also enjoy travelling because there’s so much to see out there in the big wide world. Tell us something interesting about yourself I am half Pakistani and half Indian – you can’t get more awkward than that! My parents met and fell in love in London, and so here I am today. I lived in Germany from the age of 8 and moved back to
London when I was 18, so my
entire schooling was done in a
different language. Another
thing that I love is food
(although I don’t know how to
cook). I am the biggest foodie
ever!
What are your goals for
the next few years?
I’ve always been very career-
orientated and I love what I do.
I work part-time so I can spend
more time with my family, but
perhaps one day I would like to
have my own business
renovating houses and turning
them into homes through
interior design. I can’t do that
every few weeks at my house
otherwise my family would go
‘nuts’, but its’s something that
I might want to do in the
future.
Here’s our PCPH
version of Desert Island
Discs: What three tunes
would you take with
you on our desert
island and what is your
luxury item?
There is a Pakistani classical
singer, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan,
who has passed away but his
music is beyond beautiful. A
really good song sung by him is
‘Dhadkan’, from the film of the
same title. Another one I love,
again written by him, ‘Khaani’,
features his nephew Rahat
Fateh Ali Khan on vocals. My
last tune would be a western
song, ‘A Thousand Years’, by
Christina Perri.
Finally, my luxury item would
be…Make–up!
Clockwise from top left: 1. The mineral-rich thermal waters of Pamukkale, Turkey. 2.
Taking in the views of the Atlas Mountains, Morocco. 3. Mehrosa with daughter, Aayat.Round up of the latest talks and seminars held at PCPH
Carlos Montes – Seven years learning of what works for public health in the community
Food Academy UK has successfully engaged with families and communities at high risk of Type 2 diabetes
to change their cooking and eating habits, as well as getting people moving more. Carlos Mendes (pictured
centre front) explains how they have been making communities stronger through food and supporting
better lives through changes in diet and physical activity.
Watch this presentation
Jess Henderson - The DISCOVER Health Research Platform
Jess is the Innovation Delivery Lead at Imperial College Health Partners which is a
partnership organisation bringing together NHS providers of healthcare services, clinical
commissioning groups and leading universities across North West London. They are also
the designated Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) for North West London and a
member of The AHSN Network.
Watch this presentation
Professor Deborah Saltman - Understanding Weight Control Strategies
Prof Deborah Saltman has published 10 books, 27 book chapters and more than 100
articles in peer reviewed scientific and medical journals. A clinical physician, Deborah also
holds a doctorate in health outcomes. In 2004 she was awarded the Order of Australia (AM)
for services to women’s health and medical education.
Watch this presentation
There are many more fascinating seminars ready for you to view on the
PCPH Website (Check out the ‘Past Seminar Recordings’ section)You can also read
