Part One: From Trainee to PhD – Top tips for success

Here at NIHR CLAHRC Wessex we have had the privilege to work with some very talented and determined people who have signed up to become an NIHR Trainee. It’s a demanding process where you are supported to carry out research, normally for a PhD, while continuing often in your day job, be that in the NHS or University. The NIHR has now set up an Academy to support trainees.

More than twenty have made it through the process and we wanted to capture their experience to help others who may be considering the idea. We asked them four questions:

1. What have I got from being a trainee?
2. What advice would you give to someone who’s thinking about applying?
3. How did you manage juggling PhD and work?
4. What is your best single piece of advice

Here is what they had to say..

OPINION: Tonight’s movie is a set in a dystopian future and stars your local A&E department. Dr Tom Monks

If you surf to a news website right now or flick on the TV news this evening, you might for a moment think that you watching a bad science fiction movie of a dystopian future starring your local A&E department. Sadly, it is real. The news has gone mad about A&E and the waiting time crisis that it faces. This morning the BBC reported that only 82% of patients are meeting the four-hour waiting time target. It doesn’t make pleasant reading.

Where do people want to draw the line? Making shared decisions about treatment. Professor Alison Richardson

Professor Alison Richardson is Clinical Professor of Cancer Nursing and End of Life Care at the University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust

Many patients whose condition becomes worse during their stay in hospital face uncertainty about the likelihood of recovery. For patients, families and healthcare professionals deciding on the best thing to do can be hard.

Can we discuss end of life care with patients with COPD?

Nuno Caixinha Tavares – Staff Nurse at Queen Alexandra Hospital
Clinical Academic Fellow in the University of Southampton
NIHR CLAHRC Wessex – Theme 1 – Integrated Respiratory Care

I’m Nuno Tavares, a staff nurse at Queen Alexandra Hospital and I’m also a PhD student carrying out research for NIHR CLAHRC Wessex and Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust. My research is about improving end of life care for patients with COPD.