Evaluating and integrating patient safety in the design of new service delivery models

Purpose of the Post

Applications are invited for a PhD Studentship across the research themes of the NIHR North West London Patient Safety Research Collaboration (NIHR NWL PSRC). Please note we can only fund for Home UK tuition fees, and these will be the only applications considered therefore at this time.

The Centre

The Institute of Global Health Innovation (IGHI) is one of the seven global challenge institutes at Imperial College. Housed within the Faculty of Medicine, the Institute is well placed to leverage the College’s wealth of multidisciplinary talent to innovate across science, technology, design, and policy. By doing so, the Institute’s goal is to develop evidence-based, cutting-edge solutions to the issues faced by healthcare systems and to create transformational improvement in the quality and equity of patient care, population health and wellbeing. The Institute attracts a strong cohort of students and scholars across its educational and academic programmes and continues to advance a broadening research agenda, through its five interdisciplinary centres of excellence which includes the NIHR North West London Patient Safety Research Collaborative (PSRC).

Our aims are to advance the scientific understanding of patient safety, address safety challenges as healthcare evolves and further international research collaborations. We work with local, national and international partners to support the wider dissemination and implementation of patient safety improvements and interventions.

We develop patient safety in the NHS and internationally through engagement with patients and the public, clinical partners, healthcare organisations, industry and government. We use our funding to deliver sustainable long-term, high impact programmes of translational research in patient safety.

 

Research Areas

The studentship is available in the following research area:

1.      Evaluating and integrating patient safety in the design of new service delivery models

Evaluating and integrating patient safety in the design of new service delivery models

COVID-19 pandemic triggered rapid changes in service delivery and urged the NHS to utilise new technologies to support them. While enduring benefits are possible, virtual care also comes with safety risks. Alternative service delivery models involve changes on when, where and how care is delivered. This theme will support the safe implementation of alternative service delivery models by using data-driven approaches to generate evidence on their safety impact, empowering patients and staff towards safer use and co-designing, implementing, and evaluating interventions. The two projects include:

1.      Evaluating the safety of virtual consultations and generating data-driven insights to identify high-risk patients

2.      Generating data-driven insights into patient-provider communication in digitally-enhanced consultations

Please note that projects have been scoped and successful applicant will have the ability to take on one of two research projects. There is also the potential to shape the PhD around the candidate’s interests. Interested applicants are encouraged to seek more information through the NIHR NWL PSRC website. Informal, exploratory chats can also be scheduled. Please:

●       Email the Centre Manager, Julia Thomas (julia.thomas@imperial.ac.uk), for general queries regarding the Centre and the hiring process.

Qualifications and person-specifications

We are looking for candidate with a strong academic background (with a first class degree) or MSc in the following subjects or related:

●       Health policy

●       Health services research and service evaluation

●       Psychology, decision-making, behavioural science and other related disciplines

●       Data science and medical informatics

●       Healthcare quality improvement

Successful candidate will have experience in undertaking independent research in the above subjects. Applicant must also demonstrate familiarity with mainstream quantitative research methods and qualitative research methods used in patient safety. We are looking for individuals with experience in one or more of the following areas and an interest to further develop his/her skills. 

Qualitative methods, including:

●       Ethnographic research (including observational)

●       Focus groups

●       In-depth interviews

●       Thematic analysis

●       Consensus studies

●       Service audits and evaluation

Quantitative methods, including:

●     Survey design and data collection

●     Data mining techniques applied to healthcare

●     Proficiency in data preparation, cleaning and analysis using standard statistical packages (e.g. SPSS, Stata, R)

●     Experimental studies of human judgment

The PhD student will be supervised by the multi-disciplinary team in the Division of Surgery. Through the research programme at Imperial, the PhD student will benefit from strong links and involvement with the Institute for Global Health Innovation.

All students will be registered through the Imperial Graduate School which provides a full programme of training in research and transferable skills. Further details of the Department can be found at:  http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/graduateschools.

How to apply

In the first instance, please:

·      Email: Julia Thomas, julia.thomas@imperial.ac.uk with an expression of interest.

·      Your expression of interest should contain all of the following items:

o  Your CV

o  A personal statement no more than 1000 words outlining: 1) your interest, 2) your background, and 3) which research area(s) you would like to base your project on

o  Scans of your educational certificates and transcripts from your Master’s degree and your Bachelor’s degrees

o  Names and contact details of 2 referees who can speak to your educational background. Reference letters from these referees are ideal, but not required at this stage.