PATIENT AND STAFF EXPERIENCES OF RENAL DIALYSIS TREATMENT
CAROL STALKER HOLDS A FUNDED PHD STUDENTSHIP (GRADUATE TEACHING ASSISTANT) IN HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY IN COLLABORATION WITH THE @ITREND_RESEARCH PROJECT @DERBYUNI
In collaboration with the iTREND project, this PhD with a bursary will explore and evaluate hospital patient and staff experiences of renal dialysis treatment, including approximately 50 dialysis patients over three years, during the development and introduction of an expert system using closed loop control to improve stability during dialysis. The PhD is expected to be a mixed methods project including:
- Quantitative analysis of survival and other hospital-recorded data;
- Quantitative analysis of patient-reported adherence, quality of life and other data using standardised scales;
- Qualitative analysis of patient interview and/or focus group data;
- Qualitative analysis of hospital staff interview data.
Supervisory Team: Derby University Vice Chancellor Professor Kath Mitchell @DerbyUniVC and Professor James Elander from the Department of Psychology have formed a PhD supervision team with iTREND Director Professor Paul Stewart to augment activity on the iTREND research programme which will run for three years from 1st January 2017.
iTREND is a project funded by MStart (Medical and Sporting Technologies Research Trust), and is a collaborative venture between the Universities of Derby and Nottingham in the UK.
The prime objective of this project will be to develop computational and technology hardware combined with best-practice solutions applied to the dialysis procedure to make significant improvements to patient outcomes and quality of life.
Professor Mitchell will be leading the supervisory team of the PhD researcher who will augment the clinical patient study team, investigating patient perception of care, medical and technology intervention in the treatment of end-phase kidney failure.