Fri, 20 May 2011
AHP academic awarded highly competitive National Institute of Health (NIHR) Clinical Doctoral Research Fellowship
Rachel Chester, Lecturer in Physiotherapy in the School of Allied Health Professions (AHP), University of East Anglia, and a Clinical Physiotherapy Specialist at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital Foundation Trust, is the first health care professional in the region to be awarded one of the highly competitive National Institute of Health (NIHR) Clinical Doctoral Research Fellowships. This year Rachel is one of three physiotherapists nationally to be awarded the fellowship.
The intention of the study, which forms part of the fellowship, is to identify which patients with shoulder pain are most likely to respond to a course of physiotherapy. The fellowship is awarded to clinicians who wish to become future leaders in clinical research but at the same time continue their clinical workload.
The study aims to identify what patient characteristics and measurements, assessed during the first physiotherapy appointment, are related to the outcome of physiotherapy in terms of pain relief and increased function. It will help physiotherapists, and those who refer patients to physiotherapy, identify the patients who are most likely to respond to a course of physiotherapy and those who might be better offered alternative treatments. It therefore allows patients to make an informed choice about whether or not they wish to pursue a course of physiotherapy based on the chances of it successfully relieving their symptoms. Patient with shoulder pain will be recruited from a number of NHS sites regionally. Rachel pays particular thanks to physiotherapy colleagues in the region and patients locally who have offered their suggestions and support for the study.
Academic supervision for Rachel’s PhD and the project will be provided by Dr Christina Jerosch Herold, Reader in Occupational Therapy and an NIHR Career Development Fellow in AHP and Professor Lee Shepstone in MED. “Clinical work at NNUH helps me keep grounded in what’s important for patients when teaching students and planning research – and lecturing at UEA helps me to keep up to date and contribute to the evidence base underpinning the most effective treatment for my patients – it works well” says Rachel.
The intention of the study, which forms part of the fellowship, is to identify which patients with shoulder pain are most likely to respond to a course of physiotherapy. The fellowship is awarded to clinicians who wish to become future leaders in clinical research but at the same time continue their clinical workload.
The study aims to identify what patient characteristics and measurements, assessed during the first physiotherapy appointment, are related to the outcome of physiotherapy in terms of pain relief and increased function. It will help physiotherapists, and those who refer patients to physiotherapy, identify the patients who are most likely to respond to a course of physiotherapy and those who might be better offered alternative treatments. It therefore allows patients to make an informed choice about whether or not they wish to pursue a course of physiotherapy based on the chances of it successfully relieving their symptoms. Patient with shoulder pain will be recruited from a number of NHS sites regionally. Rachel pays particular thanks to physiotherapy colleagues in the region and patients locally who have offered their suggestions and support for the study.
Academic supervision for Rachel’s PhD and the project will be provided by Dr Christina Jerosch Herold, Reader in Occupational Therapy and an NIHR Career Development Fellow in AHP and Professor Lee Shepstone in MED. “Clinical work at NNUH helps me keep grounded in what’s important for patients when teaching students and planning research – and lecturing at UEA helps me to keep up to date and contribute to the evidence base underpinning the most effective treatment for my patients – it works well” says Rachel.
