Page 16 - QARANC Vol 16 No 2 2018

14 QARANC THE GAZETTE
Centenary History of 201 Field Hospital
Tuesday 1 May 2018 was a momentous occasion for many of the Newcastle Branch of the QA Association. We were attending the launch of the book ‘Centenary History of 201 Field Hospital’, which was held at Fenham Barracks, HQ of 201 Field Hospital.
Ann Clouston, a former CO of
201 FH and stalwart member of the Association, in collaboration with the history group, compiled the book to ensure its history is not forgotten. It is a wonderful dive into the past actions of the unit and its transitions through the years.
The event was attended by many past and present members of 201 FH,
where many a story was shared, along with appropriate lubrication.
Shirley Laverick-Stovin Newcastle Branch
Attendees at the book launch of Centenary History of 201 Field Hospital
DMS Research Forum March 2018 – The future researcher
Defence Medical Services (DMS) Whittington played host to the first Research Forum meeting of 2018, which saw service personnel attend from across the DMS. These included nurses, student nurses, healthcare assistants, operating department practitioners, paramedics, and civilian allied healthcare professionals.
Group Captain Lamb, the Defence Professor of Nursing, in her opening statement addressed ‘how wonderful it was to see the Raffaelli lecture theatre full; to see how the forum has grown from a small classroom to a near full lecture theatre’. She then provided the forum with an update on the DMS research strategy; the focus is working on research which provides a tangible output for Defence, with the focus being on three key areas; rehabilitation of musculoskeletal injuries, mental health and prolonged care.
The first presenter was Warrant Officer Tony Kyle PMRAFNS, a nurse research fellow currently undertaking a PhD. He gave a very insightful perspective into conducting research and presented his top 20 tips and the pitfalls to avoid. Two points that particularly stood out for me were: firstly, time management; being practical and realistic with the goals you set yourself and using a Gannt chart to track your progress on tasks. Importantly Warrant Officer Kyle highlighted how not to be disheartened if you are not on schedule; and secondly proofreading. Having someone proofread your work can be very hard and demoralising,
but fifind someone who is credible, who is experienced in writing academically and someone that you trust. You can follow Warrant Officer Kyle on twitter @NurseResFellow.
The next presenter was Professor Debbie Carrick-Sen, a Florence Nightingale Professor of Clinical Nursing and Midwifery. Professor Carrick-Sen introduced the topic of service improvement, research, innovation and leadership. She highlighted that we are now in year three of the five-year “Forward Review (2015) – ways to change NHS healthcare”, which outlines the six domains of change. If you are not aware of this project (and I wasn’t), I suggest you have a look at what it covers. Professor Carrick-Sen introduced some service improvement tools that can be utilised in our own practice when looking at continuous quality improvement. These include the PDSA cycle, 8 wastes, fish bone technique, the pareto principles, human factors, and the five whys? She also discussed research skills, critical thinking, problem-solving, analysis, dissemination and strategy ideas. Professor Carrick- Sen was incredibly passionate about service improvement and her discussion really illustrated how research can and must contribute towards this. Follow Professor Carrick-Sen on Twitter @Carrick-Sen.
Augmented reality is being used more and more in training to help develop medics in the battlefield. Professor Bob Stone from the University of Birmingham introduced the work his team has been doing on mixed reality projects and human factors. Professor Stone’s team use augmented reality, which includes 3D models, use of environmental triggers, such as live video footage and smells to create vivid training to fully immerse the user into training scenarios. He described how trials for the Defence Medical Emergency Response Team training were very successful, but where they have really seen augmented reality come into focus is at the Queen