A series of webinars highlighting the importance of nursing research relating to the COVID-19 pandemic
The Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) for England’s COVID-19 Nursing Research Portfolio
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses have played a key role across all aspects of health and care to stop the spread of the virus and to minimise its impact on individuals, families and communities, whilst continuing to deliver safe, high-quality health and care services. During this time, nurses have led important research related to the pandemic. The Chief Nursing Officer for NHS England’s nursing research team have been curating and collating research where nurses are either lead- or co-investigators. The resulting portfolio demonstrates the impact and contribution that nurses have made to describing, characterising and explaining the impact of the pandemic on patients, the public, health and care providers, and the profession. It underlines the critical importance of nurses leading the development and evaluation of evidence informed interventions and care pathways to ensure the provision of safe, effective and efficient care. We hope you can use these to reflect on the potential implications for your own practice, policy and the profession and to identity areas requiring further investigation. The COVID-19 research portfolio is now available to read online.
"We are delighted to share these examples of research being led by nurses in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Whilst not an exhaustive list, the portfolio demonstrates the outstanding research leadership of nurses during this time, encompassing breadth and depth, producing evidence that can be drawn on to inform practice and policy as we move forward. Thank you to all who have taken time to submit and support entries to the portfolio, we look forward to hearing more about the study outcomes over the forthcoming months". (Professor Alison Richardson, Head of Nursing Research - Academic Leadership & Strategy and Dr Joanne Cooper (PhD, RN), Head of Nursing Research – Research Transformation, NHS England and NHS Improvement)
Supporting webinars
The School of Human and Health Sciences at the University of Huddersfield, in partnership with NHS England, hosted two online webinars that showcased ongoing research studies being led by nurses and drawn from the COVID-19 Research Portfolio. Both events were opened by Ruth May, Chief Nursing Officer for England (@CNOEngland) and chaired by Professor Nick Hardiker (Associate Dean for Research & Enterprise, School of Human and Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield).
At each event four experienced researchers explored gaps in our knowledge and the methods they are using to address these.
Speakers and presentations for the May 2021 event included:
Professor Ann-Louise Caress (University of Huddersfield), Exploring the experiences of people shielding due to COVID-19
Professor Carl Thompson (University of Leeds), Appraising COVID-19 contact tracing technology in care homes
Professor David Richards (Universities of Exeter and Western Norway), Evaluating a guideline for the nursing care of hospital patients with COVID-19
Professor Rebecca Lawton (University of Leeds), Determining the impact of nurse redeployment during COVID-19
Recordings of the presentations and the question and answer session are available via our YouTube channel:
Presentations - May 2021
Q&A – May 2021
Speakers at the September 2021 webinar were joined by Professor Mark Radford, Chief Nurse of Health Education England and Deputy CNO for England (@MRadford_HEECN) who provided additional introductory remarks about the importance of nursing research and participated in the closing question and answer session. Speakers at this second event were:
Professor Louise Rose (King’s College London), Virtual Family Visiting and Communication with the Intensive Care Team during COVID-19: A multiple methods observational study
Dr Keith Couper (Warwick University and University Hospitals Birmingham), ICON Study: Impact of COVID-19 on the UK Nursing and Midwifery Workforce
Dr Lynn Calman (University of Southampton), Enable – living with treatable but not curable cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic
Professor Catherine Evans (King’s College London), Rapid evaluation of the care home response to the need for palliative and end-of-life care during the COVID-19 pandemic – integration, communication and workforce resilience (CovPall_CareHome study)
Recordings of the presentations and the question and answer session are available via our YouTube channel:
Presentations and Q&A - September 2021
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Ruth May
Chief Nursing Officer, England
Professor Nick Hardiker
Associate Dean (Research & Enterprise) and Professor of Nursing and Health Informatics University of Huddersfield
Professor Ann-Louise Caress
Professor of Health Services Research and Director, Centre for Applied Research in Health at University of Huddersfield
Professor Carl Thompson
Chair in Applied Health Research and Dame Kathleen Raven Chair in Clinical Research University of Leeds and Honorary Professor University of East Anglia and University of Alberta, CA
Professor David Richards
Professor of Mental Health Services Research Universities of Exeter, UK and Western Norway
Professor Rebecca Lawton
Professor in Psychology of Healthcare
University of Leeds and Bradford Institute for Health Research
Professor Louise Rose
Professor of Critical Care Nursing at King’s College London
Dr Keith Couper
Assistant Professor in Emergency and Critical Care (University of Warwick) and Critical Care Outreach Nurse (University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust)
Dr Lynn Calman
Associate Professor in Nursing and Deputy Director of the Macmillan Survivorship Research Group [MSRG], Health Sciences, University of Southampton.
Professor Catherine Evans
Professor of Palliative Care, King’s College London
Honorary Nurse Consultant, Sussex Community NHS Trust
Professor Ann-Louise Caress joined the University of Huddersfield in 2018, taking on the role of Professor of Health Services Research and, from Sept 2019, leadership of the Centre for Applied Research in Health. She has clinical expertise in adult nursing and community healthcare. Ann’s research expertise is in living with and management of long-term health problems, primarily in adults and particularly in the renal and respiratory fields. Her special research interests are self-management, patient and carer experience and novel approaches to service delivery.
Ann is extremely active in promoting nursing research nationally and internationally, holding executive roles for the American Thoracic Society (2010-2013) and International Collaboration for Community Health Nursing Research (2005-2016 and 2019-present).
Twitter: @researchisace
Professor Catherine Evans is a clinical-academic in palliative care. She holds a joint post between King’s College London and Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust as a Professor of Palliative Care and Honorary Nurse Consultant. Her clinical background is in district nursing.
Catherine’s work focuses on the integration of palliative care in community health and social care for older adults with multimorbidity, including dementia and frailty. Catherine co-leads a major research programme on Empowering Better End of Life Dementia Care (EMBED-Care), and the CovPall_CareHome study on the care home response to meet palliative care needs during the Covid-19 pandemic.
"The CovPall_CareHome national study examines the provision of palliative and end-of-life care in care homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, and uses the findings to make recommendations to key decision-makers to sustain improvements in care during and after the pandemic."
Twitter: @catherineJanee1
Dr Lynn Calman is a registered adult and mental health nurse. Over the last 15 years Lynn’s research has focused on understanding and responding to the needs of people living with and beyond cancer. She had led and collaborated on major research programmes in cancer survivorship/psychosocial oncology leading to widely published, practice changing findings that have underpinned the development of services to improve the outcomes of cancer patients.
Lynn holds a leadership role in the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Living With & Beyond Cancer Group and has been appointed to the NHS Cancer Programme's COVID Recovery Task and Finish Group on Psychosocial Support.
"It’s truly inspiring to see the scope and quality of nursing research and its contribution to tackling COVID-19"
Twitter: @lynncalman
Dr Keith Couper is a clinical academic, working as an Assistant Professor in Emergency and Critical Care (University of Warwick) and Critical Care Outreach Nurse (University Hospitals Birmingham). In 2015, he was awarded an NIHR Post-Doctoral research fellowship. Keith’s research focuses on the care of the critically ill, particularly those in cardiac arrest. He holds various international and national roles, including the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation, and committee membership of NIHR funding panels and the RCN Research Forum.
"The ICON study provides key information about how pandemic has our UK nursing and midwifery workforce, and what we need to do to support our workforce both now and in preparing for future pandemics."
Twitter: @keithcouper
Professor Louise Rose is a Professor of Critical Care Nursing at King’s College London, an honorary Professor in Critical Care and the Lane Fox Respiratory Unit at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. Prior to joining King’s she was an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto and remains the Research Director of the Prolonged Ventilation Weaning Centre in Toronto, Canada. Her research program focuses on improving outcomes and the healthcare experience of mechanically ventilated patients across the care continuum from the emergency department, intensive care unit, specialized weaning centre and in the home.
"Through Life Lines, we have supported 100,000 virtual visits connecting families with their loved ones being cared for in intensive care units across the UK"
Twitter: @ProfLouiseR
Ruth took up her current post in January 2019, and before this enjoyed other national appointments as well as regional and Trust leadership roles.
In her first year as CNO Ruth negotiated funding for CPD as well as financial support for those embarking on a career in nursing and midwifery. Ruth is the national Covid-19 response lead for all nursing, midwifery and care professions in England.
Passionate about nurturing the next generation of nursing and midwifery leaders, Ruth advocates for improved mental health awareness, champions professional development and volunteer activity to support the frontline workforce. She is a vocal supporter of the WRES agenda and increased diversity across the NHS.
Professor Nick Hardiker took up his current post in 2018 and has been in a research leadership position for over a decade. Nick has over 25 years' experience of theoretical and applied research in nursing and digital health, with a particular focus on health records and nursing languages. Nick has previously held digital health leadership roles at the UK Royal College of Nursing and the International Council of Nurses and was for 10 years Editor-in-Chief of Informatics for Health and Social Care. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, and the American College of Medical Informatics.
Twitter: @nickhardiker
Professor Carl Thompson’s NHS career has spanned being a 16 year old nursing auxiliary in a South London “asylum” to an NHS Foundation Trust Non-Executive Director. He trained as a general nurse, working in in the UK (A&E and elderly care), Romania and the US. After a degree and ESRC-funded PhD in social policy at the University of York his research has focused on research implementation and decision-making processes, outcomes and technologies in health and social care – most recently in a large RCT of wearable technology for contact tracing in care homes. He has led or been part of teams with more than £20m in research funding, published more than 200 journal articles, co-authored 3 books on decision making in nursing and is a strong believer in collaborative working across geographical boundaries – mainly with colleagues in Sweden, Holland, Canada and Australia.
Twitter: @thompa101
Professor David Richards, a NIHR Senior Investigator, registered nurse and health services researcher, is at the forefront of efforts to improve the evidence base for both mental health care and nursing. He is chief investigator of the NIHR funded ‘COVID-NURSE’ clinical trial, testing a pandemic-specific nursing care protocol developed by nurses for nurses, for use in caring for patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. He also leads the NIHR’s Nursing and Midwifery Incubator research masterclass programme.
David is editor of the best-selling research methods textbook 'Complex Interventions in Health' and author of more than 270 research and professional journal articles.
Twitter: @darichards3
Professor Rebecca Lawton is a psychologist with 25 years of experience conducting research in the NHS. Rebecca is Director of the Yorkshire and Humber Patient Safety Translational Research Centre, one of three centres in England funded by the NIHR. She is an NIHR Senior Investigator, leading a team of 40 researchers and PhD students to deliver research that makes healthcare safer. Rebecca has published over 200 articles in peer reviewed journals, attracted £8.6 million in external funding as PI in the last ten years and collaborates internationally. Rebecca's primary interests are patient safety, improvement science, workforce wellbeing and patient involvement.
Twitter: @LawtonRebecca
