The people behind the data: a student’s reflection

I feel incredibly privileged for the opportunities a recent internship, funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR), gave me; from conferences and research protocol workshops, to getting involved in data gathering and thematic analysis, to writing and submitting a collaborative commentary on inter-professional education with a graduate occupational therapist and a student nurse.

Taking place over the summer break, the internship offered a full immersion into the multifaceted world of research, helping to contextualise what I’d learnt over the past two years of my degree. Across the whole experience, the immense value of patient public involvement (PPI) in research appeared as a common, reoccurring theme. 

During a workshop day to trial different walking sports protocols for improving balance in those with COPD, there was a real buzz of excitement among patients co-producing the project, as they advised how to improve adherence to a twice-weekly exercise class and voted on the most relevant method of measuring progress. 

Talking to patients, their sense of collective agency over the project was a real motivating factor to act as a role model for others with COPD and encourage those in the local community to get involved. 

Similarly, when observing family members who were affected by acquired brain injury (as part of the steering group for PAUL for brain injury community service) feedback on a trial run of an educational seminar, to promote understanding of the road to recovery, they voiced how therapeutic it had been to share their story and provide a support network for others going through similar experiences.

Considering the potential impact research can have on treatment guidelines, funding decisions and policy, carrying out research ‘with’ or ‘by’ members of the public rather than ‘to’, ‘about’ or ‘for’ them drives forward the concept of patient-centred care to equip, enable, and empower people to actively participate in their own treatment journey. 

Prior to the internship, I saw research as a series of search terms and analytical methods encased in a bunch of academic jargon. This experience has taught me that behind all that data are people, whose lived experience can provide key insights. I hope to pursue a future career in research and advocate for the benefits of PPI to co-produce future physiotherapy service delivery. 

As well as spurring on my interest in pursuing a research career, the internship has given me the opportunity to develop the personal skills that seem to underpin every research process; being observant, daring to question the status quo, learning to fail, co-creation, critical reflection, continuous learning, and adopting a solution-based approach.

Such attributes have great transferability to the CPS’s four pillars of quality practice: clinical, education, leadership, and research and are, in my opinion, key determinants of a quality physiotherapist.

Acknowledgements

I’d like to acknowledge Dr Frances Butler, Sara Ma and Dr Alexandra Wray for their mentorship and insights during the interprofessional NIHR internship.