Exploring the Crucial Role Patients Play in Enhancing Surgical Research
RCSEd Communications Team
‘Nothing about me, without me’ – should be a key phrase in the delivery of healthcare. Patients should be involved in any decision concerning their care. It should be the same for clinical research.
Indeed patients should be involved in setting research priorities, helping guide organisations to ensure that academic endeavour is of direct benefit to them, or the groups they represent. This Public-Patient Involvement (PPI) has become a fundamental aspect in designing clinical studies and often research bodies will not fund trials without meaningful PPI engagement.
The College is committed to expanding its research portfolio to embrace a wider range of subjects that really matter to our patients. At the heart of this is patient safety. RCSEd already partners with Edinburgh University to deliver Its excellent MSc in Patient Safety and Clinical Human Factors. This degree, taught entirely online, comprises two elements: taught and dissertation. The dissertation gives students the opportunity both to develop their skills and to conduct a patient safety/quality improvement project.
This is a fantastic base for developing a research passion for patient safety. Over the next three years, RCSEd will expand research opportunities into Human Factors and Patient Safety. We have started this journey with The Circulation Foundation who have partnered with the College to fund Human Factor research into vascular surgery.
This is just the start, and I expect to report, in the coming years, a suite of research opportunities for healthcare workers from all backgrounds. For over 500 years this College has endeavoured to put our patients first, teaching, training and testing standards of care to keep everyone safe.
