The Clinical Practice Integration theme is focussed on identifying and understanding the main clinical challenges for the people of the Midwest, from the perspective of patients, clinicians, researchers and students. Then, we concentrate on creating and putting into practice evidence based solutions to address these issues.
UL MedX, Exercise is Medicine, is a pragmatic evaluation of the efficacy and sustainability of a community-based exercise programme for individuals living with chronic disease in CHO3. It started in September 2022 with two PhD students working as part of the project. The project steering group comprises members from across UL, CHO3, Limerick Sports Partnership and Health Sciences Academy, with a research project team, scientific advisory group and patient and public involvement panel (PPI) also forming part of the governance.
The purpose of the ULMedX project steering group (PSG) is to oversee the delivery of the programme, ensuring all staff are fully supported and that project deliverables, milestones and outputs are achieved as planned. Key outcomes of steering group meetings:
1. The expansion of the ULMedX programme from its initial concept of ‘cardiac disease’ only to include three chronic disease populations, namely cardiac, pulmonary and type 2 diabetes. Thus, aligning ULMedX to the chronic disease hubs.
2. The need to map the ‘system’ for providing structured exercise opportunities for individuals with chronic disease in CHO3 (Limerick, Clare and Tipp) from both the participant and the professional’s perspectives was identified. The ‘system’ means all the issues that might help patients being referred to and attending a structured exercise class within their community, and the things that might stop this happening effectively.
3. A list of key stakeholders to be invited to a systems workshop was developed by the PSG. Stakeholders comprise professionals involved in referral or service provision as per the national exercise referral framework (Woods et al., 2016). The ULMedX Research Project Team (RPT) purpose is to ensure smooth day-to-day running of the programme, student supervision, data management and reporting.
Since 2020, a collaborative research project is ongoing based on the experiences of stakeholders involved in the Intermediate Care Facility. This work has been facilitated by the Health Sciences Academy between academics from UL’s School of Allied Health and Department of Nursing and Midwifery and UL Hospitals Group staff members. The Principal Investigator is Prof Judi Pettigrew, co-investigators are Prof Audrey Tierney (both School of Allied Health), Assoc. Prof Liz Kingston and Assoc. Prof Maria Noonan (Department of Nursing and Midwifery), Prof Paul Burke (Chief Academic Office), Miriam McCarthy (Health Science Academy), Fiona Steed (Department of Health, former UL Hospitals Group), Hilary Curley (Research Assistant, Education and Health Sciences Faculty, UL) and Joanne Mannion (PhD student).
Semi-structured interviews and/or focus groups took place with 80 participants generating 49 data sets between September 2020 and February 2021. Transcription and subsequent data analysis was undertaken and a draft paper for publication was developed. In autumn 2023, Joanne Mannion registered as a PhD student with the University of Limerick supported by an Education and Health Sciences Faculty PhD fee waiver and with the support of the Quality, Safety and Service Improvement Department in Mid-West Community Healthcare. Joanne graduated from the University of Limerick in 2014 with a Master of Science in Speech and Language Therapy. In 2020, Joanne received a professional diploma in Leadership and Management from University College Dublin. Joanne completed a graduate certificate in Advance Clinical Practice with UL and a certificate in Patient Safety and Complaints Advocacy with the Open Training College in 2022.
From 2014 – 2021 Joanne was employed as a Speech and Language Therapist in a variety of settings including the Mid-West Community Healthcare, Milford Care Centre, UL Hospitals and UL. Since 2021, Joanne has been working in Quality & Safety commencing in her current position as Quality, Risk & Patient Safety Advisor in the Mid-West Community Healthcare in 2023. As a Speech and Language Therapist, Joanne developed a special interest in practice education and interprofessional education and practice. This developed through roles as Senior Speech and Language Therapist and Practice Tutor in UL Hospitals Group and Regional Placement Facilitator in UL. Joanne has experience in patient and public involvement in research and implementation of quality initiatives through her previous role as PALS Manager and current role. Plans for Joanne’s PhD outputs include research publications and a range of dissemination strategies based on stakeholders experience in the ICF with a focus on patients, staff, practice tutors and management.