NIAA Update: February 2016
Funding Opportunities
John Snow Anaesthesia Intercalated BSc Awards 2016
Applications are currently open for this year's John Snow Anaesthesia iBSc Awards. Designed to encourage medical student interest in anaesthesia, the award is intended to fund the student's living costs. The AAGBI/Anaesthesia, RCoA/BJA, and OAA are offering awards of £2,000 and the NACCSGBI is offering one award of £1,000. The deadline for applications is 5pm, Thursday 31st March. Please apply using the form on our website.
NIAA Research Grants: Round 1 2016
Grants in this round are being offered by AAGBI/Anaesthesia, RCoA/BJA, BSOA, DAS, NACCSGBI, OAA, RA-UK and VASGBI. Various amounts are available. The deadline for applications is 12 noon, Friday 22nd April. Please check the NIAA website for further details and application forms.
Events
NIAA Annual Scientific Meeting - 14th April
We're counting down to the inaugural NIAA Annual Scientific Meeting, taking place on Thursday 14th April at RCoA. Have you booked your place? The event will see the launch of the first NIAA Research Award and will also focus on the launch of the UK Perioperative Medicine Clinical Trials Network, led by Professor Rupert Pearse. The meeting has also been approved for 5 CPD points. To view the programme and register for the event please visit our website here.
BJA/NIAA Research Methodology Workshop - 21st March
A joint workshop with the British Journal of Anaesthesia and the NIAA to introduce participants to the way in which good research should be conducted and presented, via teaching sessions and practical group sessions. The workshop will be useful for anaesthetists of any grade who are already involved in research or are about to embark on a research project. To register for the event please click here.
HSRC News
Vacancies: NIAA HSRC Fellowships
The NIAA Health Services Research Centre in conjunction with the UCLH Surgical Outcomes Research Centre (SOURCe), the London Clinic and Princess Grace Hospital are inviting applications for a number of clinical research fellowship posts which will offer exposure to national research and quality improvement programmes, as well as opportunities for academic publication and to develop leadership and management skills. The deadline for applications is 9am, Monday 7th March. Full details on each post and how to apply are available on our website.
Vacancy: HSRC Deputy Director
Applications are being invited for the position of Health Services Research Centre Deputy Director. A fixed term 3 year post, the role will involve supporting the HSRC Director, deputising where required and leading the next stage of the HSRC's Clinical Measures Programme. It is also supported by the cost of 1 PA per week backfilled to the post holder's Trust, and requires a minimum commitment of 4 hours per week. Further information, application form and job description are available on our website here.
RAFT News
IHypE: Intra-operative Hypotension in the Elderly - RAFT national project 2016
This prospective observational 'snap-shot' study was chosen at the Research & Audit Federation of Trainees (RAFT) 2015 summer 'project development meeting' hosted by the Group of Anaesthetists in Training (GAT). Intra-operative hypotension frequently complicates anaesthesia and has been associated with multiple adverse outcomes, particularly in the elderly. The aims of IHypE are to quantify the incidence of intra-operative hypotension in this age group, document associated outcomes, identify treatment thresholds and survey attitudes towards this complication. This trainee-led project will deliver a snapshot of UK anaesthetic practice which will complement emerging research and direct quality improvement strategies.
IHypE is an ambitious project and will adhere to RAFT's core value of recognising the contributions made by all. It's hoped this will be a great opportunity for trainees to collaborate nationally and it has already generated much enthusiasm and gained support from partner organisations. 15 of the 19 Trainee Research Networks across the UK have now confirmed they will collect data, incorporating approximately 140 hospitals. Data collection is planned for a 48 hour period during this spring/summer. If you're interested in taking part please contact your local trainee network. More information on RAFT is available here.
NELA News
The third year of patient data collection for the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit (NELA) started in December 2015. The Year Two data collection period is now complete as participating sites were given until the 29th January 2016 to finalise and lock their Year Two data and submit the most accurate picture of emergency laparotomy at their hospitals as possible.
The NELA Project Team is happy to announce that the export performed following the deadline contained over 22,000 locked cases from nearly 190 hospitals in England and Wales. This data will now be analysed and used to write the Second NELA Patient Report, which is due to be published in June 2016.
All those involved in running the audit would very much like to convey our deepest thanks to everyone who has and continues to contribute to the audit, without whom the Year Two data collection would not be possible. We look forward to continuing with the patient audit for a third year and constantly feeding back to hospitals' information on process and outcome measures so as to continue to drive Quality Improvement at a local level. Find out more about NELA here.
British Oxygen Company Research Grant 2015
Following a strong round of applications the BOC Research Grant was recently awarded to Dr Gareth Ackland and Dr Daqing Ma. Over a four year period the BOC grant is awarded to a promising academic who is near promotion to professorial status. This year 19 applications were received and short listed candidates were invited to present their research proposals to a panel at RCoA. After deliberating over this year's strong cohort the panel decided to award a grant to two candidates. Dr Ackland is a Senior Lecturer in Perioperative Medicine at Queen Mary University, London. His research will investigate the post-operative effects on the heart when blood pressure drugs are stopped before surgery. Dr Ma is Reader and Head of Anaesthesia Research in the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College, London. His research aims to investigate anaesthetics' effects on cancer cells. Congratulations to Dr Ackland and Dr Ma; both awards are well deserved.
Other Research News
A recent review by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has found evidence to suggest that participation in health research is linked to better care and performance. According to the survey, engaging clinicians and healthcare organisations in research is linked to improvements in the delivery of healthcare and has a positive impact on quality of research and its outcomes. Read more about the review here.
