Development and refinement of patient care recommendations in brachytherapy for locally advanced cervical cancer using nominal group technique workshops.

Purpose: Patient experiences of brachytherapy for locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) are widely variable, with reports of difficult and traumatic experiences and aspects of care requiring improvement. The aim of this study was to develop patient care recommendations and consult with key stakeholders to review, refine and prioritise recommendations.

Methods: Phase 1: Patient care recommendations were developed from qualitative exploratory study data.

The Challenges and Lessons Learned Building a New UK Infrastructure for Finding and Accessing Population-Wide COVID-19 Data for Research and Public Health Analysis: The CO-CONNECT Project.

The COVID-19-Curated and Open Analysis and Research Platform (CO-CONNECT) project worked with 22 organizations across the United Kingdom to build a federated platform, enabling researchers to instantaneously and dynamically query federated datasets to find relevant data for their study. Finding relevant data takes time and effort, reducing the efficiency of research. Although data controllers could understand the value of such a system, there were significant challenges and delays in setting up the platform in response to COVID-19.

'Challenging but ultimately rewarding' - lived experiences of Deep End Northern Ireland GPs: a qualitative study.

Background: Living in socioeconomically deprived areas is associated with shorter lives and worse health. GPs working in these areas face additional challenges compared with those in more affluent locations.

Aim: To establish GPs' motivation for working in these areas, to discover the challenges that GPs face, and to gain insights from GPs on potential improvements and changes.

A Hybrid Architecture (CO-CONNECT) to Facilitate Rapid Discovery and Access to Data Across the United Kingdom in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Development Study.

Background: COVID-19 data have been generated across the United Kingdom as a by-product of clinical care and public health provision, as well as numerous bespoke and repurposed research endeavors. Analysis of these data has underpinned the United Kingdom's response to the pandemic, and informed public health policies and clinical guidelines. However, these data are held by different organizations, and this fragmented landscape has presented challenges for public health agencies and researchers as they struggle to find relevant data to access and interrogate the data they need to inform the pandemic response at pace.

Nothing about me without me: a scoping review of how illness experiences inform simulated participants' encounters in health profession education.

Background: Person-centred simulation in health professions education requires involvement of the person with illness experience.

Objective: To investigated how real illness experiences inform simulated participants' (SP) portrayals in simulation education using a scoping review to map literature.

Study Selection: Arksey and O'Malley's framework was used to search, select, chart and analyse data with the assistance of personal and public involvement.

How to … do longitudinal qualitative research.

In health professions education, we are often interested in researching change over time, for example the development of professional identity or the adoption of new practices. Taking a longitudinal qualitative approach to such research can provide valuable insights. In this article, we present some longitudinal qualitative methods to support researchers interested in getting started with this type of research.

How to … be reflexive when conducting qualitative research.

Reflexivity can be a complex concept to grasp when entering the world of qualitative research. In this article, we aim to encourage new qualitative researchers to become reflexive as they develop their critical research skills, differentiating between the familiar concept of reflection and reflective practice and that of reflexivity. Although reflection is, to all intents and purposes, a goal-oriented action with the aim of improving practice, reflexivity is a continual process of engaging with and articulating the place of the researcher and the context of the research.

Assessing the readability and patient comprehension of rheumatology medicine information sheets: a cross-sectional Health Literacy Study.

Objectives: Patients are often provided with medicine information sheets (MIS). However, up to 60% of patients have low health literacy. The recommended readability level for health-related information is ≤grade 8.

How to… get started with theory in education.

This paper, on using theory in health professions education research, is the second in a series that aims to support novice researchers within clinical education, particularly those undertaking their first qualitative study. Diving into the world of education theory can be challenging and uncomfortable for clinician-educators. Nonetheless, theory is an essential ingredient in high-quality research, shaping everything from research questions to study design, analysis and, ultimately, the interpretation of findings.

How to…write a good research question.

This paper, on writing research questions, is the first in a series that aims to support novice researchers within clinical education, particularly those undertaking their first qualitative study. Put simply, a research question is a question that a research project sets out to answer. Most research questions will lead to a project that aims to generate new insights, but the target audience and the methodology will vary widely.

How well do patients understand written instructions?: health literacy assessment in rural and urban rheumatology outpatients.

The aim of this study was to assess health literacy (word recognition and comprehension) in patients at a rural rheumatology practice and to compare this to health literacy levels in patients from an urban rheumatology practice.Inclusion criteria for this cross-sectional study were as follows: ≥18-year-old patients at a rural rheumatology practice (Mid-North Coast Arthritis Clinic, Coffs Harbour, Australia) and an urban Sydney rheumatology practice (Combined Rheumatology Practice, Kogarah, Australia). Exclusion criteria were as follows: ill-health precluding participation; poor vision/hearing, non-English primary language.

Awarding global grades in OSCEs: evaluation of a novel eLearning resource for OSCE examiners.

Background: A novel online resource has been developed to aid OSCE examiner training comprising a series of videos of OSCE performances that allow inter-examiner comparison of global grade decisions.

Aims: To evaluate this training resource in terms of usefulness and ability to improve examiner confidence in awarding global grades in OSCEs.

Method: Data collected from the first 200 users included global grades awarded, willingness to change grades following peer comparison and confidence in awarding grades before and after training.