St Bartholomew’s coronary care staff nurse awarded pre-doctoral clinical academic fellowship
An academic fellowship from Health Education England (HEE) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has been awarded to a coronary care nurse at St Bartholomew’s Hospital.
The HEE/NIHR pre-doctoral clinical academic fellowship (PCAF) is a key feature of the HEE/NIHR integrated clinical academic (ICA) programme and looks to develop clinical and academic expertise.
The programme provides research training awards for healthcare professionals who wish to develop careers that combine clinical research and research leadership with continued clinical practice and professional development.
Coronary care unit staff nurse Nick Loftus, who works on ward 3A, will undertake the fellowship part-time over 24 months to increase his research expertise in patient deterioration and plan his PhD fellowship application.
In 2019 Nick completed a HEE/NIHR research internship, a ‘pre-master’s taster’ in clinical academia.
It was during this internship that he spent time with clinical researchers at St Bartholomew’s, completed university modules, attended a conference, and published a paper in the British Journal of Cardiac Nursing.
Nick said: “This provided me with the necessary exposure, experience and practical insight to apply for the PCAF.
“I became interested in research as an undergraduate nurse, examining nursing practice with research.
“St Bartholomew’s Hospital has an excellent infrastructure to support nursing, allied health professional (AHP), health care science (HCS) research and clinical academic careers.
“Although nurses tend to become involved in research late in their careers, there is a local and national drive to get nurses, AHPs and HCSs embarking on their clinical academic careers a lot earlier.
“I qualified as a nurse three years ago and I hope others can see that early career clinicians can pursue a clinical academic career.
“Professor Julie Sanders, Professor Leanne Aitken and Mr Duncan Smith have all inspired me, alongside the support I have received from the 3A leadership team including Gordon Ferguson, Gordon Mills, Liam Tobin, Claire Warde and Laura Hopkins.”
Professor Julie Sanders, director of clinical research at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, said:
“The HEE/NIHR internship is a fantastic opportunity to gain research experience and knowledge.
“At St Bartholomew’s Hospital we are proud to have supported six members of staff on this programme who have since embarked on their clinical academic and research journey.
“Nick really made the most of this opportunity and thoroughly deserves his success in achieving his PCAF funding.
“A tremendous achievement of which I am extremely proud to support.”