Book chapter by Dr Stephanie King

Dr Stephanie King , Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences has contributed to a book chapter in:

Chapter 13 - Biomechanical Constraints to Stair Negotiation to The new dynamics of ageing volume 1 Policy Press, Bristol

Association of Advanced Practice Educators conference

Caroline Drewe and Nicki Credland were presenting at the Association of Advanced Practice Educators conference in Glasgow on Friday 2 March (sadly cancelled due to the inclement weather but here is the poster):

£1.8 million investment - University of Hull and Castle Hill Hospital

A ground-breaking research centre to help doctors detect the early signs of three life-changing illnesses is being built at Castle Hill Hospital with an investment of £1.8 million from the University of Hull.

Building on the University’s high-calibre research which has resulted in new imaging technologies and inventions which have already instigated six patent applications, the Molecular Imaging Research Centre will be used to provide the diagnostic tools to help doctors identify the early signs of cancer, heart disease and dementia.

On Monday, a plaque was unveiled at the site for the £7.2 million research centre which is the result of a partnership between the Daisy Appeal, the University and Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals, to translate scientific and medical research advances into clinical use.

Since it was established in 2000, the Daisy Appeal has raised £12.5m to fund cutting-edge research and state-of-the-art equipment and facilities. At Castle Hill Hospital, the charity has already built an £8m research centre, which opened in 2008, and the £4.5m Jack Brignall PET-CT Scanning Centre, which opened in 2014.

Professor Susan Lea, Vice-Chancellor of the University, said:

“Our investment in this pioneering facility demonstrates our support for local healthcare and is underpinned by the University’s commitment to improving the health of people in this region and beyond, through strong partnership with the NHS and the Daisy charity in this case.

“The centre will build on our existing links with the Jack Brignall clinical imaging centre at Castle Hill Hospital as well as our current work on internationally-recognised medical research programmes in this field.”

Steve Archibald, Professor in Molecular Imaging at the University of Hull, said:

“The new centre will enable us to translate new technologies and treatments into a clinical setting enabling doctors to provide earlier detection and better treatment for their patients.”

By determining the molecular make up of a tumour, doctors can tailor the treatment for an individual thus giving a greater chance of success.

“We have been working towards better outcomes for patients as a result of new diagnostic PET imaging technology for four years at the University. The PET Research Centre at the University of Hull campus has been carrying out translational scientific and biomedical research since 2014.”

Research CentreA ground-breaking research centreA ground-breaking research centre

Differently Abled KC Stadium

Emily Hogarth, year 3 student learning disability nurse, has provided the following account:

On Friday 9^th February 2018, the Wellbeing Service and the Carers’ Information & Support Service joined forces to host an amazing event aimed at people who have learning disabilities and/or autism, carers, friends, family and staff. The event, titled ‘Differently Abled’, facilitated partnership working from a vast range of services and provision within Hull and East Yorkshire. The event involved Humber NHS Foundation Trust, East Riding Carers Service, Hull and East Riding Councils and Hull and East Riding CCGs.

On the day, Differently Abled saw over 800 members of the public pass through the doors. Over 85 services were present at the event, from birth to end of life, including housing support, day and night time opportunities and a dedicated Health Zone. Staff and services had chance to network at the event, allowing the opportunity to build knowledge base and create further pathways for their service and people with a learning disability and/or autism.

The event was divided into ‘zones’ to make it simple and accessible to all. The zones included:

·        Adult Zone

·        Children’s Zone

·        Day and night time opportunities Zone

·        Housing information and support Zone

·        Communication Zone

·        Health Zone

·        Autism Simulation Zone

Overall, the day was a roaring success and the feedback was greatly positive! Some of the feedback includes:

“The largest gathering of services I’ve ever seen. Very informative, excellent networking opportunities!”

“The atmosphere was buzzing. Lots of information and friendly people were there to talk to!”

Student Learning Disability Nurses from the University of Hull were greatly involved within the day, this included setting up the venue in the morning, assisting with stallholders, handing out lunches, assisting service users throughout the day and performing physical health checks under the supervision of nurses. All students who participated received a certificate for their assistance.

The day went off without a hitch and plans are already in motion for the next event!

A special thank you to all who made this event possible, including Julie Bahn, Suzanne Nicholls, Sam Benstead, Michaela Marr, Judy Lewis, Anna Daniels and Tracy Gamble.

Call-out for PCOS sufferers for a research study

Please see this link

A new research project at Hull York Medical School focusing on weight management in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is recruiting participants to trial the effects of different diets.

Polycystic ovary syndrome is the most common hormone condition in women of reproductive age, affecting up to 20 per cent women in this age group both globally and in the UK.

Obesity is one of the traits associated with the condition along with hirsutism (unwanted hair), oligmenorrhoea (infrequent periods), reduced fertility and increased incidence of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in women with PCOS

Thozhukat Sathyapalan, Professor of Endocrinology at Hull York Medical School, said:

“Several studies have reported that around 30-80% of women with PCOS are overweight or obese, with obesity often being associated with worsening symptoms and long term health effects.

“Diet and lifestyle changes to promote weight loss among obese women with PCOS can improve many aspects of the condition including fertility and the development of type 2 diabetes, although the effect of one particular weight loss diet remains largely unexplored.”

Tokophobia: what it’s like to have a phobia of pregnancy and childbirth

Catriona Jones, Fran Wadephul and Julie Jomeen  have published this piece in The Conversation:
Tokophobia: what it’s like to have a phobia of pregnancy and childbirth

CALL FOR PAPERS - 4th International Death Online Research Symposium (DORS 4)

Death Online Research Symposium (DORS4): The University of Hull, UK, August 15 – 17 2018.

The 4^th Symposium of the International Death Online Research Network will take place at The University of Hull, UK, August 15 – 17, 2018. It will consolidate links between existing and new network members and provide opportunities for the discussion of ongoing and new orientations in the interdisciplinary field of death online. The meeting will explore the ways in which online connectivity is changing how, when and where we engage with death and dying and how we invest death-related practices with meaning in the online environment. We warmly welcome new members to the network as well as old friends. 

Confirmed Keynote Addresses:

Professor Charles Ess, University of Oslo, Norway

Dr Elaine Kasket, psychologist and author of forthcoming book:

All the Ghosts in the Machine

Themes and perspectives of the symposium

For this 4^th Death Online Research Symposium we invite abstracts for oral presentations of new, recently completed, or ongoing research or ideas for future academic research on all kinds of death related online practices. We welcome qualitative and quantitative work which expands our understanding of the current and future trends in death online research from a variety of disciplines, addressing any of the following themes:

• Digitally mediated dying and narrative
• Digitally mediated grieving and memorialising
• Death online and embodied experience
• Digital afterlife, post-mortem identity and digital legacy
• Technological developments in the death care industry
• Digital immortality
• Online vs offline experiences
• Theorising online life and death
• Ethical challenges for studying death online.

The conference will host a special workshop for participating ost Graduate students and early career researchers. We particularly welcome submissions from these groups. All submissions will be peer-reviewed, and we envisage publication of selected full papers in a special issue of an academic journal in the field as well as a collection of writing from the symposium in an open-access online platform.

Important information

Submission format: 300 word abstract

Submission deadline: March 15th, 2018

Submission feedback: April 15th, 2018

Registration open: May 1st, 2018

Registration fee: £125 (£75 students). This will cover morning and afternoon refreshments and lunch for the 3 days and conference dinner on day 2.

All submissions and enquiries should be submitted to Dr Jo Bell:. marked “Death Online Research Symposium Submission” in the subject field. Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words. Please include full contact info (name/s, institutional / organisational affiliation and email address) in the submission. Submissions will be anonymised before review.

The online registration and payment site will be open from 1^st May 2018. There will also be information available here for booking options for accommodation. You can stay on The University of Hull campus at The Courtyard for £50 per night (including breakfast) or £45 per night (excluding breakfast). We will make cheaper options such as ‘air b & b’ available where possible.

If you are interested in joining the Death Online Research Network, please contact Dr Stine Gotved.

Healthcare professionals should be mindful that victims and victim-bullies may have additional health needs associated with risk-taking behaviour

Yvonne Wilkinson has published:

Healthcare professionals should be mindful that victims and victim-bullies may have additional health needs associated with risk-taking behaviour in BMJ Evidence-Based Nursing doi: 10.1136/eb-2017-102773

High feeding dependence prevalence in residents living in Italian nursing homes

New publication by Roger Watson and Mark Hayter with PhD student Alvisa Palese and Italian clinical colleagues:

Palese A, Grasetto L, Bandera D, Zuttion R, Farrario B, Ponta S, Hayter M, Watson R (2018) High feeding dependence prevalence in residents living in Italian nursing homes requires new policies: findings from a regionally based cross-sectional study Health Policy doi: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2018.01.011

Experiences of mental health nursing staff working with voice hearers in an acute setting

Anjula Gupta has co-authored:

McMullan E, Gupta A, Collins SC (2918) Experiences of mental health nursing staff working with voicehearers in an acute setting: An interpretive phenomenological approach J Psychiatr Ment Health Nurs. DOI: 10.1111/jpm.12448

Opinion piece by Debbie Crickmore

Debbie Crickmore has published:

People who died in long-stay hospitals mattered and live on in my practice in the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) journal Learning Disability Practice

Dementia care improved by just one hour of social interaction each week

This project included collaboration from University College London, the London School of Economics, the universities of Hull, Nottingham and Bangor, and Alzheimer’s Society. 

Increasing the amount of social interaction for people with dementia living in care homes to just one hour a week improves quality of life when combined with personalised care.

A large-scale trial led by the University of Exeter, King’s College London and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust found that the approach also saves money. Previous research has found that in many care homes, residents have as little as two minutes of social interaction per day.

The new research, funded by the National Institute of Health Research and published todayin the journal PLOS Medicine, upskilled key care home staff to deliver person-centred care. That involves simple measures such as talking to residents about their interests and involving them in decisions around their own care. When combined with just one hour a week of social interaction, the programme improved quality of life and reduced agitation.

Professor Clive Ballard, of the University of Exeter Medical School, who led the research, said: “While many care homes are excellent, standards still vary hugely. We have previously found that the average amount of social interaction for people with dementia was just two minutes a day. It’s hardly surprising when that has a knock-on effect on quality of life.

“Our approach improves care and saves money. We must roll out approaches that work to do justice to some of the most vulnerable people in society. Incredibly, of 170 carer training manuals available on the market, only four are based on evidence that they really work. That is simply not good enough – it has to change.”

The trial involved more than 800 people with dementia across 69 care homes in South London, North London and Buckinghamshire. Two ‘care staff champions’ at each home were trained over four day-long sessions, to take simple measures that such as involve talking to residents about their interests and decisions around their own care. Importantly, the approach also saved money compared to standard care.  Researchers say the next key challenge is to roll the programme to the 28,000 care homes in the UK to benefit the lives of the 300,000 people with dementia living in these facilities.

Dr Jane Fossey from the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Taking a person-centred approach is about getting to know each resident as an individual - their interests and preferences - and reflecting these in all aspects of care. It can improve the lives of the person themselves and it can be rewarding for carers too. We’ve shown that this approach significantly reduces agitation and saves money. Rolling out the training nationwide could benefit many other people.”

The results are the findings of the Improving Wellbeing and Health for People with Dementia (WHELD) trial, the largest non-pharmacological randomised control trial in people with dementia living in care homes to date.

University to deliver nursing education in China through new partnership

Following a successful visit to the University of Yangzhou, China, by Julie Jomeen, Dean of Faculty of Health Sciences and Joanna Qui, in the Academic Partnerships Office, the Universities of Hull and Yangzhou have been successful in an application to deliver a sino-foreign joint educational program for Chinese student nurses. The Chinese Ministry of Education has officially recognised the international partnership, which means we can now start to develop a collaborative degree program. 

Colleagues from across the University will begin to operationalise this new and innovative educational strategy, which will see colleagues from the School of Health and Social Work travelling abroad to teach in China.

Professor Julie Jomeen said: ‘This is a solid first step in our ambitions to become part of the global provision of nurse education and to influence both the profession and the development of the nursing workforce beyond the UK. It will also offer opportunities for colleagues to experience teaching in an international context and open doors for other collaborations, including research – it is immensely exciting.’

Faculty Canadian links

To advance the University’s international education and research engagement and raise our Faculty profile, we have just developed a strategic partnership with the Memorial University Newfoundland.

As a part of this collaboration, we worked with City Health Care Partnerships to host two Nursing Students for an international exchange in January/February.

Students reported that they thoroughly enjoyed their international experience and that they gained valuable experience of nurisng in a UK context. Our faculty would like to thank City Health Care Partnerships for this excellent placement opportunity.

SPARC symposium

Liz Walker's presentation on Type 2 daibetes

The newly formed research cluster SPARC (Social and Psychological Research into Long Term Conditions) held its first research symposium on February 2^nd 2018, at the University of Hull. The symposium focussed on ‘Living with Long Term Conditions’ and provided an opportunity for University researchers and PhD students to present recent and ongoing research. This included studies which explored people’s experiences of living with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Further presentations explored forms of support for people with long term conditions provided by primary care and long terms conditions clinics, as well as the experiences of family carers who provide support from a distance.

Liz Walker (left) and Joanne Reeve

The symposium was attended by participants representing a broad range of disciplines including nursing, social work, primary practice, clinical psychology, engineering and drama, providing an opportunity for interdisciplinary discussion and sharing of ideas and perspectives.

Following the success of this initial event, we plan to organise further opportunities to share research and open up interdisciplinary conversations about living with long-term conditions in the near future. 

Professional issues in maternal mental health scale (PIMMHS)

Professor Dean Julie Jomeen has co-authored:

Jomeen J, Jarrett P, Martin CR (2018) : The development and initial validation of a brief and valid measure European Journal of Midwifery doi: 10.18332/ejm/83276

BMS Seminar series - Andrew Mead, RVC, "“Hollow-fibre infection models and antimicrobial resistance”" Wednesday 6th Feb, 1-2pm, Hardy-LT2

Nicki Credland has published:
Recognition and response to the deteriorating patient Nursing in Critical Care DOI: 10.1111/nicc.12337